New Existence
by RegQuinn11
Summary: The Wolves didn't arrive in time to stop Laurent from sinking his teeth into Bella. A mere second doesn't only irrevocably change her life forever. It ends it.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The Twilight Series and specific lines of this chapter completely belong to Stephanie Meyer. I am in no means taking credit for her work.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Meadow**

* * *

 _As I blink slowly at my surroundings, confusion seeps in._

 _How did I end up here? I sure as hell didn't bring myself. I would never hurt myself in such a way. A way that would surely kill me._

 _I take a deep breath as my eyes slide up the Cullen house. The house I had one day hoped to call my home. A place I had hoped to share with the family I thought I was a part of. A family that abandoned me. That didn't love me._

 _At least not the way I loved them._

 _I'm ripped from my internal musing by the opening of the front door. I choke on a gasp and fight to hold back tears as I let my eyes first rake over his copper hair before allowing them to settle on his beautiful face and golden eyes._

 _"Edward?" I cry, a sob painfully catching in my throat._

A sudden and deep feeling of unease jostles me from my nightmare. Blinking at my surroundings, confusion once again takes over. All at once I take in the large trees and the colorful flowers surrounding me and realize I'm in the meadow. _Our_ meadow. It's the only piece of him I have left considering he took everything else.

A clean break he called it. Yeah, well, clean break my ass. I doubt there could have been anyway we could have had a clean break. It's more like everything shattered, _including_ me.

As quickly as the relief of figuring out where I am floods through my body, its replaced by complete shock and fear.

I'm not alone.

He stands a measly fifty feet away. A man too still, too pale, too _unbelievably_ beautiful to be your average human.

Hell, he's not a human at all.

I take notice of his black eyes, outlined in blood red. Eyes that are staring right at me. Eyes that are full of unmistakable hunger.

It only takes a second to realize he didn't stop eating humans and adopt the Cullen's "vegetarian" diet like he claimed he would a couple of months ago. No, he definitely hasn't stopped taking pleasure from human blood. A human diet that I am likely to become a part of if I don't play this carefully.

I stand up casually, dusting my hands off on my knees trying to appear at ease.

"Laurent," I say, addressing him with a fake smile plastered on my face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The End**

* * *

"I can't say I expected to see you here, but I have to say it is a great surprise," Laurent says with a coy smile, all the while walking slowly toward me.

The way he's looking at me makes me want to run away as fast as I can, but I know there would be no use in that. He could have his teeth sunk into my neck before I even completely turned around.

"Shouldn't _I_ be the one surprised to see _you_? I do live here after all and I was under the impression that you moved on. To Alaska was it?" I ask him while slowly angling myself so that he stays completely in front of me at all times. He may already have the upper hand, but I don't plan on going down without a fight . . . even if a fight is completely useless.

"You're right," he agrees. "I did travel to Alaska, but I'm back now. Temporarily of course. I did make a promise to your people not to hunt on their land and I can't say that I had intended to break that promise."

I swallow harshly and take an involuntary step backward. This does not go unnoticed by Laurent. A menacing smirk quickly takes over his face.

"When I saw that the Cullen house was empty," he continues, "I assumed that they had moved on, yes?"

I give him a curt nod. His smirk grows even bigger.

"Hmm, just as I expected," he muses. "What I don't understand, though, is why they left you behind. If I remember correctly - and let's face it, we both know I do - you seemed to be very . . . important to them. So why not take you with them?"

I take only a second to panic before I quickly spew out my lie. "People were starting to get suspicious of them so they had to move on. And my dad wouldn't have taken it too lightly if I had run off with my boyfriend before I even finished high school, so we decided I'd stay behind for now. Well, at least until I've finished high school that is. They visit often though. That's actually why I'm out here today. Edward's supposed to be visiting. He should be getting here any minute now . . ." I say casually looking around as if I'm expecting him to pop out from behind the trees. Saying his name, even now that I might very well be on the brink of death, still feels like a serrated edge against my unhealed wounds.

Laurent's smile falters slightly and his eyes shift quickly to the trees surrounding us.

I send up a quick prayer that he doesn't call my bluff.

His eyes suddenly lock with mine and he once again gives me a devilish smirk. "Oh really?" he begins. "When I visited the house it smelled as if it'd been vacant for a while . . ."

I officially start to panic.

 _Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,_ I chant to myself. _Think, Bella_ , think!

"So how's Victoria?" I ask, trying for a quick change of subject. I immediately regret it. It was the first thing that popped into my head, but bringing her up - someone who had previously tried to kill me - probably wasn't my brightest idea.

"She's good," he says hesitantly. "I actually came here as a favor to her." He sighs. "She won't be very happy that I killed you."

I freeze as the words slowly sink in.

 _She won't be very happy that I killed you._

 _She won't be very happy that I killed you._

 _She won't be very happy that I killed you._

I knew from the beginning that this was how this encounter would most likely end for me, but actually having my thoughts confirmed . . . And the way he mentioned killing me so easily . . .

"She wanted to save that part for herself, you see," he continues. "She's sort of . . . put out with you, Bella. "

"Me?" I squeak, trying to swallow past the lump that has formed in my throat.

He chuckles and shrugs his shoulders. "I can't say that I exactly see her way of reasoning either, but I believe it's along the lines of Edward killed her mate so she wishes to kill his. Tit for tat, if you will.

"I believe she will be most upset to learn that you weren't even important enough to him to take with them. I doubt it will be the sweet revenge she imagined."

I fight to hold back the tears that so badly want to take over. Not because I'm practically on my death bed, but because knowing he doesn't want me is bad enough. Hearing others voice it is ten times worse.

"He'll know it was you," I whisper, not willing to go down without a fight. "He'll find you and dispose of you just as he did James."

He chuckles again and within a blink of an eye, he's barely an inch away from my face. I'm immobilized with fear and can't even force myself to take a step back.

"Oh I think not, dear Bella." he breathes, the sweet smell of his breath washing across my face. "He must have taken into consideration that Victoria would come after you and yet he still left you here . . . unprotected, no less."

He slowly slides his fingertips over my cheek and down my neck, his eyes following the movement. "Don't worry," he whispers. "It will be quick. You won't even feel a thing."

 _Edward, I love you._

And the fear suddenly disappears because all I can feel is the fire.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Fire**

I expected the fire to stop in a matter of seconds and to then feel nothing. To never feel anything ever again.

But the pain failed to ever cease and only got worse with every passing second.

I have a hard time thinking of anything other than the fire, but I try to calculate how long I've been burning. I know Laurent should have drained me by now. He promised it would be painless.

I guess this isn't the first time I've fallen for the lie of a vampire.

A part of my mind knows what's really happening. I'm becoming a vampire and there's nothing I can do to stop it. All I can do it hope that the torture will soon be over.

It feels as if I've been burning for years, but for all I know it could have been only minutes.

The next time anything other than the pain registers in my thoughts is when the liquid fire running through my veins slowly starts to recede from my fingertips and toes. With each inch of my body the pain disappears from, I feel my heart beat faster and faster. It feels as if it's trying to find a way to take flight from my chest.

Eventually, the fire is only left in my throat and my heart gives its final beat.

I keep my eyes closed and my body completely still. I don't even take a breath, a sensation that feels slightly awkward, but not completely wrong. My throat burns and I long to make it stop, but I don't want Laurent to know I've completed my change, even though I'm sure he's heard that my heart has stopped. I can only hope that he's gotten bored and is no longer paying attention to me.

I don't know why he didn't just kill me, but I have high doubts he had a change of heart. The only thing I can think of is that he decided to honor Victoria's wishes and make sure I went through the ultimate torture –being changed into a vampire–before killing me.

Now he doesn't have as much of an upper hand, though. We're closer to even grounds even if he is older.

There is no way in hell I'm going down without a fight. It's not as if I have anything to lose.

I make a split decision and jump up in what I assume is a blink of an eye. My instincts take over and I land in what feels like a natural pose–a crouch. A growl slips through my lips and surprises me.

However, Laurent is not standing across from me as I expected. I stare at the broken looking boy with tears running down his face.

"Jake?" I whisper.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: The Reason**

* * *

As soon as his name passes my lips, the most repulsive smell assaults me. I quickly hold my breath as a look of disgust contorts my face.

Not breathing feels weird, but it's not uncomfortable as it would have been before . . . when I was human.

The thought feels weird rolling around in my mind.

I quickly take Jake in. He's cut his hair since the last time I saw him and the strands look as if they are revolting, refusing to lie flat and sticking out in every direction. He only wears a pair of red basketball shorts, his chest and his feet bare. The last time I saw him was only about a week ago, but it seems as if he's aged 5 years in that time. He's grown at least 5 inches and his once lanky form has now turned into that of a weightlifter. Mud smudges seem to cover the majority of his body. He looks as if he hasn't slept, nor taken a shower, in days.

"Your eyes," he whispers. "Your beautiful brown eyes are gone."

 _Shit!_ I freeze in place, before realizing standing completely still is not helping my case. As I start to make what I hope looks like natural human movements, I contemplate just how fucked this situation is. There's no way I can go back to my old life. Everyone will know that something is wrong with me and no one would be safe with me around.

Wait . . . why didn't I immediately drain Jake? My throat still feels as if my last meal was a bottle of gas and a freshly lit match.

Is part of my humanity still there, or did the horrible stench override the scent of his blood?

"If we had only gotten here a few seconds sooner," he continues, tears falling silently down his face. "A few goddamn seconds! You would still be alive. I could tell you about everything and we could go back to living our lives . . . together. Maybe I could have even gotten you to fall for me in the end. I mean I know I'm no vampire, but we could have been good together. Gotten a little house on the reservation and started a family. You could have become a teacher or something and I could have opened a little mechanic shop. We could have been happy. We could have had everything we would've ever needed. We'd have each other. But no! We had to show up two _goddamn_ seconds late and the life we could have had is ripped away from us!"

I desperately try to follow his rant, but only one part of his speech seems to be registering. He knows. He knows what the Cullens are.

He knows what I am.

I watch the tears that seemed to have fallen faster and faster down his face with every word he said. I always knew that he had a crush on me. But that's all I ever thought it was . . . a _crush._ I never knew he felt this strongly. Strong enough to plan out a life for us together.

I look at the broken boy standing in front of me, a million questions running through my head.

 _How am I not dead?_

 _Where is Laurent?_

 _What does he mean they showed up a few seconds too late?_

 _Who showed up too late?_

 _Too late for what?_

 _How does Jake look so different in just a matter of days?_

I feel as if my head is about to explode and Jake seems to see the confusion written on my face for he quickly continues.

"You remember all the stories I told you about my ancestors?"

I slightly nod my head. I sort of remember them but they're kinda foggy, as are the majority of my other human memories. The Cullens weren't lying when they talked about human memories becoming hazy after the change.

It doesn't escape my notice that all my memories surrounding Edward are still crystal clear.

"Turns out they weren't just legends," he continues with a bitter laugh. "Last week I changed for the first time. I changed into a wolf. I'm a shapeshifter. My purpose is to protect humans from vampires . . . protect humans from _you._ Me and the rest of the pack were doing a routine run around the area when we caught scent of the vampire. We got here only seconds after he bit you. We pulled him off right away and killed him, but it was already too late. His venom had already entered your system. The pack wanted to kill you, but I couldn't let that happen. I _love_ you. I couldn't let them just kill you, so I convinced them to let me do it. Let me do it by myself."

"Jake . . .," I whisper as I take a step back. His story is crazy and shouldn't even begin to make sense, but I'm not really in a position to judge.

Without even consciously making the decision to do so, I run to the other side of the meadow. I look him in the eyes, willing him to believe every word I say. "Jake, you're not going to kill me. You're not a murderer. I _know_ you. I'm going to leave and I swear I will never come back. I also swear to you that I will never let a drop of human blood touch my lips. I'll only drink from animals. I'm not a murderer either, Jake.

"I need you to go home. I need you to make sure my dad and mom know how much I love them. Make up some story about my death. I honestly don't care what, but make sure they know I'm dead, even without my body. I don't want them to spend the rest of their lives looking for me. Make sure they find peace. . . And, Jake, I love you," I add as an afterthought. I may not love him in the same way he loves me, but I do love him in a brotherly sort of way. He can take it in whatever way will help him move on.

I turn and run as fast as my feet can carry me and I don't stop. I vow not to stop until I am as far away from Forks as I can get.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The Meltdown**

* * *

It turns out running as far away as I can isn't very far.

My speed soon turns to that of a human runner as I start panting. Without the distractingly repulsively smell that I have surmised must have been coming from Jake, a werewolfor shapeshifter or _whatever,_ the fire in my throat quickly turns back into an inferno.

Thank god I am in the middle of the woods and as far away from civilization as I can be. I shudder to think what would have happened had I woken up any closer to humans. The people I could have hurt . . .

I'm running for less than a minute when the scent hits me. A scent that apparently gives the animal within me permission to take over.

The next thing I remember is kneeling next to a lifeless bear, cleaning my fingers of the sticky blood that coats them by sucking on them.

I stare down at the blood-soaked fur, completely shocked. I don't even notice I'm slowly backing up until I'm pressed so tightly against a tree I start to hear it crack. Breathing sporadically, I try to calm myself down.

How could I have done this? I drained every drop of blood the bear had without a second thought. Without a conscious decision.

The animal inside of me heard a beating heart and set out to make sure that heart never beat again.

I slowly sink to the ground as I let this realization sink in. I lost _all_ control.

Would I ever get it back?

That thought scares me more than I would like to admit.

The Cullens seemed to have at least some form of control when it came to the scent of blood. Hell, Carlisle was even a doctor and around human blood every day and here I was, unable to control myself with a simple fucking bear.

A dark chuckle escapes me at the fucked-up-ness of this whole situation.

How could they do this? How could they let me get in this predicament? I can't be alone during these years of being a newborn! I'm going to end up hurting someone. I need help. Someone to keep me in control.

My breathing starts to quicken and my body begins to quake as I feel the familiar signs of a panic attack begin to take over. I didn't even know a vampire could _have_ a goddamn panic attack.

I need _them_ and they _aren't_ here.

Without even thinking I let my anger take over my body as I rip the closest tree out of the ground and throw it with as much strength as I can muster. It quickly takes down everything in its path until it finally falls a half mile away.

"Oh my god," I whisper in shock. The anger quickly turns to fear and I fall to the ground once again. I wrap myself in a ball and hold on for dear life. I close my eyes tightly hoping this is all just some fucked up dream–no, _nightmare_ –I will wake from in the morning.

"You're in your room, Bella. You're asleep. Your alarm never went off this morning and you overslept, killing any plans you had for a hike to the meadow. Everything's fine. You didn't have a run in with Laurent. You're not a vampire. You're a human. You will _die_ a human."

I say the words over and over until they becoming something of a chant, willing myself to believe them, willing them to be true. As my breathing begins to even out I almost have myself convinced they are. When I open my eyes I just want to feel the relief of being in my own home.

But when I open my eyes the relief never comes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: The Blood**

* * *

I never expected this life for myself.

I mean, don't get me wrong, if I'd been turned into a vampire a few months ago, I would have had _everything_ I ever wanted.

I _wanted_ this life. I wanted this life with _them_.

This life without the Cullens, though . . .

Being turned and having no one to help you stay in control is the hardest part. For the first few weeks, I killed any animal that came within a five-mile radius in seconds. I couldn't control myself and it was terrifying. I stayed as close to the middle of the forest as I could. I was so far in that it was extremely unlikely for any hiker or camper to be close enough that the animal inside of me could smell their blood and take over.

But not impossible. If I couldn't control myself around animals, I didn't even want to think about how I would be around humans.

And killing a human is just _not_ an option. I would never forgive myself.

But the most pathetic part of it was that I knew I also didn't want to disappoint the Cullens by killing a human. The family that had abandoned me and was ultimately the reason I was in this situation in the first place. The thought of disappointing them, disappointing _him_ . . .

Like I said, completely and utterly _pathetic_.

I eventually found myself finding more control around the animals, so I slowly tried drifting closer and closer to the edges of the forest. The last thing I want is to spend the rest of forever by myself. I'm not looking for a family, or friends even, but I want to be able to interact with society. I can't spend the rest of my days in this forest having only trees, bears, and deer for company.

The last thing this world needs is a truly insane vampire running amuck.

About three months after my change, I ran across the scent of some campers. I didn't even notice I was running towards them until it was almost too late.

I was barely able to stop myself at the edge of their camp, but I _was_ able to. I was somehow strong enough to win control over the animal and I turned myself around and ran for hours in the opposite direction.

I was lucky that it was night time and they were sleeping. I could only imagine how horrible I looked. Likely like a living nightmare and the last thing I needed was to draw attention to my existence.

I knew my clothes were completely ruined. My white shirt is ripped in at least twenty different spots and has blood and dirt caked into it. My pants are just as bad. I'm sure my eyes wouldn't have been a welcoming sight either.

I don't think I've ever been as proud of myself as I was that night. It was then that I knew I could do this. I could be around humans without draining them.

I could control the animal.

It was after that night that I started training myself harder than any Olympian. I would sit at the very edge of the forest, where the scent of human blood was the strongest I had ever encountered before. At first, I would only start with an hour a day and the pain in my throat was indescribable. After my hour of torture was up, I would have to run as fast as I could to find a non-human blood source.

As time went on I would sit there longer and longer. After about six months I was able to sit there for the entire day, enduring the burn. It got to the point where the burn wasn't even at the forefront of my mind, just an inconvenience in the background.

I can't wait for the day when I am confident enough to actually walk into the city. However, which city it is I am not positive. I know I am far away from Forks, but how far exactly I'm not sure.

My biggest concern now is finding a way to get new clothes and cleaned up. I hate to admit it, but I also wouldn't object to a mirror so I can see my new reflection. The Cullens claimed that beauty came with the territory, but I have a hard time believing they were any less perfect before their change.

I'm so lost in my thoughts of the Cullens, which isn't anything new for me as they are practically the only thing I can think of anymore–how much I wish they were here to help me right now, how mad I am at them that they aren't–that I almost don't notice the smell until I am already upon it.

Human blood mixed with the scent of vampire.

As I round the corner I am met with a scene that makes my venom run cold.

A vampire man, with his face buried up against a newborn, screaming baby.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: The Baby**

* * *

His coal black eyes snap to mine and in an instant he is crouched and snarling at me, protecting the small body with his own.

I hold completely still, not moving or breathing, petrified the slightest movement could make the man snap.

I _can't_ let anything happen to that baby.

I slowly let my eyes fall from the pair as I take a quick survey of the forest around me, hoping to find something– _anything_ –to help me save this young life.

I'm immediately paralyzed by the scene in front of me. I'm not sure what I expected to find, but it was _never_ this.

A young, ghostly pale woman lies at the base of a tree in a river of blood with a large, gaping hole in what used to be her abdomen.

I struggle to process the scene in front of me. It just doesn't make any sense. Why cut the child from the woman's womb? Surly just draining the woman would have been so much cleaner and easier. This . . . this is even inhumane for a vampire.

I slowly lift my eyes back up to his, hoping my slow pace will assure him that I am in no way a threat. I'm not met with the cold-hearted gaze of the murderer I expected, but with the eyes of a man who looks scared and broken. This gives me hope I can play on the small touch of humanity he still has.

"Please," I whisper. "Please, don't hurt him, he did nothing to deserve this."

The man looks almost confused as he slowly starts to come out of his crouch, still protecting the infant with his body. I almost smile at the progress I've made with only a few words.

I slowly take a step forward, and he takes a quick one back, his eyes narrowing and another growl coming from deep within his throat.

I quickly put my hands up in front of me, desperate as I plead with him for this new life. "Please," I beg. "You don't need to do this. Please, just give him to me. I . . . I'll take him to his father. Doesn't he deserve that: a chance to grow up? Anyway, he must have, what, a couple of ounces of blood at best, right? That's not even worth the effort."

"You've already found him," he whispers and I am shocked by the sound of his voice. Like his eyes, it's not cold, but light and almost cooing.

"What?" I ask, not following in the slightest.

" _Her_ father. You've already found him." He looks down at the baby in his arms and lightly cradles, the apparent her, back and forth.

My stomach sinks.

"Oh, God," I gasp. "You killed her father, too?"

His eyes snap to mine and I know immediately I've said the wrong thing.

"I didn't _kill_ anyone," he hisses from behind clenched teeth.

Our eyes both snap to the girl swimming in scarlet. A pained sound escapes his throat as he drops to his knees, clutching the baby tightly to his chest. The baby's wails seem to diminish and I take a quick step forward, afraid he is crushing her, before realizing her heartbeat is still steady and strong.

As he stares at the woman from his spot of the ground, I finally allow myself to take in his appearance. He's wearing a pair of blood-covered jeans and a grey tee-shirt. His dark, almost black hair, is cropped pretty short, only an inch or so longer than what would be considered a buzz cut. He has a beautiful face and body, neither of which surprise me, seeing as what he is.

I can't help the slight pang in my heart as I take note of how much he looks like a Cullen.

"It doesn't have to be this way," I try again. "Please, just give me the baby." I take hesitant steps forward until I am less than a foot away from them. "If you give me the baby I can take her to her family."

He looks so small and lost as he looks up at me from his place on the ground. I am sure at this moment, were it possible, tears would be filling his eyes.

"You don't understand," he whispers. " _I_ am her family. _I_ am her father."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: The Crazy**

* * *

This is so much worse than I originally thought, and what I originally thought was _horrible_.

He's not only a vampire, he's a _delusional_ vampire.

"You . . . you think you're her father?" I question hesitantly, in what I hope comes off as a soothing voice.

His frame jumps up so quickly even my perfect vampire eyes have a hard time following.

My breath momentarily catches. If shaking a baby could lead to death, I can't imagine moving at an inhuman speed is what nine-out-of-ten doctors would recommend for newborns.

"I don't think I'm her father," he growls, confidently and strongly. "I _am_ her father."

He cradles her more tightly and my stomach sinks once again.

"Please, just be careful with her!" I plead.

In an instant, cold black eyes are less than an inch away from mine.

"Who do you think you are, to tell _me_ what's best for _my_ child?" he growls.

I stand completely still, afraid that one wrong move could set him off. A part of me knows that with my newborn strength I could fight him easily, but I've never fought with anyone before, let alone a vampire, and I don't think my first try should be with a newborn baby in my opponent's arms. That seems like more of an intermediate level obstacle than a beginner one.

"Look, I can't say I get it, but I'm trying here. You say you're her father, but you're a vampire. You understand how that doesn't add up, right?"

He looks down at the small life in his arms with such pure adoration it takes me off guard. With a gasp, I realize it really was never his intent to hurt her and what he is saying is the truth. At least what he believes to be the truth.

His eyes raise to mine, and once again he looks lost and terrified. "I didn't think it was possible either," he whispers softly.

"Oh, God, what have I done?" he cries, starting to pace, his voice laced with pure anguish. He finally sinks down next to the corpse and tenderly runs a finger across her face. "Oh, sweetheart, what have we done?"

It suddenly occurs to me that he never meant to hurt her either.

 _What_ happened here?

Technically none of this is any of my business and I've never been the type to meddle in other's affairs, but I'm invested at this point. I don't think I could bring myself to walk away. I may know next to nothing about what is going on here, but the one thing I do know is that they need help.

I sink to the ground and lean against the tree behind me, hoping to make him more comfortable. He moves away from the body and mimics my move by leaning against the tree across from mine, next to his 'sweetheart.' He fixes me with a suspicious stare, making it clear just how much he trusts me.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Why would I tell you anything? I don't even know you."

"Because I can tell you're scared and upset and I care enough to listen."

The baby makes a cooing sound and his eyes quickly flash back to her. A smile graces his lips as he softly rocks her back and forth. When he looks at me again, he seems less guarded, and I think I may have a chance of getting him to open up.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: The Story**

* * *

"What's your name?" he asks, eyeing me warily.

"My name is Isabella, but you can call me Bella."

"No last name?" he asks accusingly.

I open my mouth to say Swan, but I hesitate. Bella Swan is dead. She was a human that died in that meadow and she's never coming back. Keeping that last name just somehow feels wrong.

"Not at the moment, no," I answer him honestly.

The look he gives me is clearly a command to continue; I decide to throw him a bone. I have no clue why, but for some reason I want him to trust me. "Let's just say I haven't had the time to figure all that out yet."

He nods slowly, still seemingly not happy with the lack of details. "Care to elaborate?"

I look at the dead woman lying next to him and arch an eyebrow. "You show me yours, and I'll show you mine?"

He sighs and his eyes lower to the now sleeping baby cradled in his arms. I wait anxiously for him to tell me his story, knowing I can't push him. Based off what I have been able to gather about him so far, he needs to tell it on his own terms or he'll likely shut down.

"Her name is–or was, I guess–Emma," he says with a grimace, his voice barely above a whisper. "This life of constantly being on the move and never having a place to call home . . . it was starting to get to me. I wanted to settle down somewhere, even if only for a little bit. That's what made me move to Portland three months ago. I had some money saved up and I got myself this little apartment. It wasn't much, but it was good enough for me. My landlord is this older lady and I was even able to persuade her to lower my rent."

"You dazzled her," I blurt out without thinking.

He eyes me like I'm crazy and I lower my head in embarrassment. Now isn't the time to recollect on my past with vampires' persuasive abilities.

"I guess you could call it that, yea," he says slowly. "With the lowered rent, I would have been able to stay for six months. I was so excited. I haven't had something that normal since I was changed. I've never been one to enjoy killing people, so I only hunt when I can't take it anymore and try to only kill the scum of the Earth. My plan was to hunt in neighboring towns, never hitting the same town twice just to be careful.

"I never expected to meet her. She lived in the apartment next to mine. She came over the night I moved in with what she called a 'Welcome to the building' cake. There was something about her that made me invite her in. To this day I still don't know what it was. Maybe it was her ice-blue eyes, or golden hair, or maybe it was her smile–maybe it was everything about her. I felt bad that she worked so hard on a cake that wasn't going to be eaten, so I convinced myself that I was just inviting her in to have a piece. But then we started talking and it was just so . . . so normal that I couldn't let it go.

"I kept finding ways to get her to come back over–saying I needed help with how to work the washer and dryer or saying I had useless decorating abilities but still wanted my place to look nice. When I was with her, I felt like I was almost human again. When she first kissed me, I wasn't even expecting it. Can you believe that?" He laughs humorlessly. "A vampire being caught off guard by a human!"

He pauses and looks back down at the baby. He rocks her softly back and forth, a look of pure heartache written across his face.

When he starts to talk again, his voice is so low a human wouldn't be able to hear it. "Nothing bad happened when I kissed her. I was shocked. I thought the venom from my mouth would somehow hurt her, but it didn't. I was stupid enough to think if I was careful, I would be able to have a normal relationship with her, even if I couldn't stay forever.

"When Emma first told me she was pregnant, I was convinced she cheated on me. I never in a million years thought a vampire could reproduce. And even if I could procreate, we had only slept together for the first time a week before and she was already starting to show.

"I was so mad at her. I thought she had gone off and ruined my little slice of normal. But then I could smell her. Emma smelled different. Her normal scent was mixed with something vampire. And then I started thinking about it, and none of it made sense. I had only seen her the day before and she had no baby bump whatsoever. It's not as if I'm really familiar with pregnant humans, but even I knew that wasn't normal."

I sit there, shocked. A vampire impregnating a human. It doesn't even begin to make sense, but there doesn't seem to be any other plausible explanations. I try to nonchalantly smell the air, but my gasp of shock doesn't go unnoticed. The baby. She doesn't smell completely human either.

"How long ago was this?" I ask, no longer able to stay quiet.

"I only had sex with her a month and a half ago."

I avert my eyes, convinced if I was still human my face would be red. I know I'm an adult–and a vampire at that–but I'm still not used to hearing someone talk about sex so casually.

"How did this," I gesture to her body, "happen?"

"She had started to scream, and I heard a bone crack. I knew I needed to get her out of the city. It's not as if I could take her to the hospital and if someone found out–I couldn't have the Voltori hearing of this. They would never let Emma live. I just ran as fast as I could and we ended up here.

"Then everything got worse, and all of a sudden blood was pouring out from a gaping wound in her stomach. It all happened so fast, I wasn't expecting any of it. One second she was alive and the next she was gone with my . . . my daughter lying next to her."

The broken look on his face makes my heart hurt and I want nothing more than to console him. "You know this isn't your fault, right? I mean, you had no idea this was going to happen."

His eyes snap to mine, shooting daggers. "Well, this isn't her fault!" he growls, clutching the baby even tighter to his chest.

"No!" I agree, having a hard time keeping up with his rollercoaster emotions. "That's not what I meant at all! I meant it's no one's fault–not your's, not the baby's, and not Emma's."

His body slumps back against the tree as if exhausted. I know a vampire can't be physically exhausted, but I'm willing to bet he mentally is.

Hell, I'm mentally exhausted just from listening to his story.

We sit in silence for a while, both of us seemingly lost in our thoughts.

"I have no clue how I'm going to do this. I don't know how to be a good father," he whispers brokenly. "Especially to a half-human-half-vampire. _God_ , how am I going to explain to her the story of her birth?"

"You already are a good father," I say slowly, not wanting to upset him again. "The way you want to protect her from everything, the way you look at her, the way you defend her, it's so obvious how much you already love her. As for how to explain all of this to her . . . well, maybe that's something you can figure out later."

"I do love her," he says, quietly. "I love my little angel so much. Daddy won't ever let someone hurt you, little one," he whispers cooingly down to the baby.

"I say," I start out, standing up and wiping my hands off on my already ruined jeans, "that your next step is to give this baby girl a proper name." I walk over to him slowly and offer out a hand to help him up. He looks at my offered hand hesitantly, before his eyes meet mine. He clutches the baby to his chest with one hand and takes my hand in the other. I smile, feeling that we're taking a step in the right direction. He would have been able to stand perfectly fine without my help, but I hope him accepting my gesture means he's starting to trust me.

"A name," he says as he looks down at her intently. A small smile graces his lips as he says, "Her name is Jordan, after my mother."

"Jordan," I say, smiling. "That's beautiful." I pause for a moment, realizing I don't even know his name. "So what's Jordan's dad's name then?"

"I'm sorry," he says. He smiles apologetically at me, as he sticks out his hand. "I'm Nathaniel Pierce, but you can call me Nathan."

I shake his offered hand and smile at him. "Well, Nathan and Jordan Pierce, it's very nice to meet you."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: The Eyes**

* * *

"So," I start out slowly. This situation is so fucked up, I can't even begin to think about what comes next. "What are we going to do from here?"

Nathan looks up from his sleeping daughter, his face a mask of confusion. "We?"

"Well . . ." I know I could easily walk away, but I can't. Maybe it's because this is the first person I can actually talk to since my change; maybe it's because I've always had that broken part of my brain that forces me towards dangerous and difficult situations. Whatever the reason is, I feel connected to this man and his daughter; leaving isn't an option. "I'd like to stick around at least for a little while. My morbid curiosity needs to see how this plays out."

He glares at me and I offer a teasing smile. "Too soon to kid about it?"

He sighs heavily, his stare softening. "Way too soon," he growls, ending with a teasing smile to match my own.

"Seriously, though," I start out, my gaze shifting onto Emma's corpse. "We need to figure out what to do from here. Do we bury her here? Does she have family that's going to be looking for her? I mean, I have no clue how we could get her body back without people having questions, but her family never having answers is the worst pain we could ever put them through. We need a plan."

He squeezes his eyes shut tightly and hunches his back as if in pain. And I know he is. There is not a day that goes by that he won't feel like all of this is his fault.

I understand perfectly how he's feeling. Our situations may not be exactly the same, but there are enough similarities. There's not a day that will go by that I won't feel the guilt for the pain I have caused my parents. Whatever story Jake made up for why they had no body to bury may be enough for Renée, but I know Charlie will never stop looking for answers. I could have saved them from so much pain if I hadn't been so selfish and gone to that damn meadow chasing ghosts.

He finally opens his eyes, gazing down at Jordan before looking back at me.

"You know you could leave, right? There is no reason for this to be your problem."

"I do."

"And you're not going to?"

"Don't worry, I'm not saying you're stuck with me forever. I mean I barely know you, but for now, I'm offering you my help. You need it, so stop complaining."

He's quiet for a few minutes, just staring at Jordan. He finally begins to nod his head softly, before looking up at me with a hard stare.

"You look like a young vampire. How long ago were you changed?"

"About seven months ago."

His eyes widen before he covers as much of Jordan's body with his own as he can. "What the _fuck_ , Bella?" he spits out. "How could you . . . Wait. How have you not tried to attack her yet?"

I take a few steps back, hoping to but his mind slightly at ease. It's then that I realize how little the blood lust has really affected me in the last few minutes. Sure, the burn is there and the fire is roaring, but I've been able to ignore it with all the other shit going on.

"I've been practicing." I shrug my shoulders. "And it's not like I'm used to the taste of human blood or anything . . . I really don't know why the bloodlust hasn't overtaken me, especially with . . ." I gesture to Emma's body. "I've been holding my breath for as much of this as I can, but I honestly have no desire to hurt your daughter. I swear."

Nathan looks confused but in no way close to letting down his guard. I can't blame him. I would be acting the same way were the situation reversed. I should be a blood-crazed newborn and have no real explanation for why I am not.

"You're not used to the taste of human blood?"

"The only thing I've drunk since waking up is animal blood. I know I can't easily prove that to you, as I'm guessing my eyes are still red since I'm so young, but they should hopefully be turning a more golden color soon."

His eyes meet mine in a vicious stare.

"Well, shit," he breathes out, his voice a mask of complete disbelief. "The majority is still red, but around the outside, you have a ring of gold. I don't know how I didn't notice that before."

I offer an awkward chuckle. "Well, you've been a bit preoccupied, with making sure I don't kill your daughter and all."

His glare softens slightly. "How do you know this much about vampires already, being so young? I can't imagine you've come across many. Did your sire teach you this?"

The hole in my chest that was left by the Cullens–left by _him_ –makes itself known once again. In all the shit happening I was able to ignore it temporarily, but I know I'll never get more than that. It's a part of me now.

I open my mouth, trying to come up with the words. I can't talk about them. I'm not ready, the wound still being too new. And there's absolutely _no_ way I can talk about him.

"No, my sire is dead. Can we just say it's a long story?"

Nathan scoffs, finally standing up, though still positioned at an angle that has Jordan shielded by his body.

"I showed you mine. Now it's time for you to show me yours."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: The Explanation**

* * *

I swallow thickly, trying to find the right words to describe my story because he's right. He didn't owe me an explanation; hell, I practically forced one out of him. I had good reasons for doing it mind, but now he has a good reason as well; he needs to make sure his daughter is safe around me.

"Come on, Bella No-Last-Name," Nathan says. "I just told you all about the clusterfuck that is my . . ." His eyes widen before snapping down to Jordan who is snoozing comfortably in his arms. "I'm so sorry, baby girl. Daddy shouldn't say such bad words around you."

I bite my lip, trying unsuccessfully to keep the chuckle in. Covering my mouth with my hand, I try my best to muffle the sounds, however futile that may be.

Nathan glares at me. "Do you find something funny?"

"That girl is barely an hour old, and she already has you wrapped around her little finger." I don't stop myself from laughing at him now, and the momentary joy feels so unexpectedly good. I honestly can't remember the last time I genuinely laughed like this. "Good girl, Jordan," I coo to her.

He holds his glare, but it's more playful now.

"Just give me something here."

I sigh, deciding I can give him the story without giving him everything. Without giving him the things I am nowhere near ready to talk about yet.

Tit for tat and all that.

"When I was 17, I moved to a small town in the northwest to live with my dad. There was a family there that kept to themselves. Everyone could tell they were different. I became . . . close with one of them, and I figured out what they were: a family of vampires that had found each other throughout the years. They wanted as normal of a life as they could get. The parents both worked and everyone else went to school. They only drank from animals which gave them all golden eyes instead of the blood red. When it got to the point where it would start to become noticeable that they weren't aging, they would move on."

I pause, and at first, Nathan gives nothing away, but then a huge, relief-filled smile covers his face. "God, I never thought we could have such a good life–such a _normal_ life. I could give her that type of life." He laughs, and the sound reminds me of a child's on Christmas morning. "She could go to school and have friends; she could have some semblance of a normal childhood." He smiles at me, and I do my best to smile back. I don't have the heart to tell him I doubt he will be able to give her any type of normal life soon. There's still so much to figure out–namely what a half-vampire can do. She's something neither of us ever even knew could exist, and I have so _many_ questions. Will she grow like a normal child? Is she truly immortal? Will she be able to control herself around humans?

For her sake, I hope we are able to figure it out.

"Wait," he says, his eyebrows drawing together. "Where are these people now then?"

"I . . . I don't know," I whisper, realizing just how true those words are. All I could think about since waking up has been blood and finding them. I know they don't want me–know _he_ doesn't want me–but I need to see them, just one last time. I need to know why.

"What do you mean you don't know? What happened after they changed you?"

"They didn't. They . . . moved on before I was changed. A vampire we had met before they left came back looking for them, but all he found was me. It was never his intention to change me. Some friends of mine were able to kill him before all my blood was drained and . . . and here we are."

"And here we are," he repeats slowly, clearly not impressed. "Some friends? I thought your vampires had already left. Did they come back?"

No, they never came back for me.

"No, these were different friends. It turns out the Native Americans that lived on the reservation near my town come from a long line of shapeshifter-wolf-things, and their purpose is to protect humans from vampires, ergo they killed the man who changed me."

"Shapeshifter-wolf-things?" Nathan asks, disbelief coloring every word.

"Yea . . . I didn't exactly stick around to get the whole story. Jake was trying to talk himself into killing me since I was a vampire by that point."

He opens his mouth before closing it again, clearly trying to figure out how to respond. Nerves jumble in my stomach and I'm suddenly terrified he is going to reject me, not being able to believe the story that sounds insane even to my ears and I _lived_ it.

"Look," I add quickly. "I know it sounds insane, but is it really any more insane than having a half-human-half-vampire daughter?"

He stares at me for a long moment, and my breath catches in my throat before he nods his head once. "Touché."

Relief floods through me and I offer Nathan a small smile. I'm suddenly very grateful to this man for believing my story when I barely believe it myself.

"But how did you get away then? Why didn't he kill you?" he asks.

"What do you mean?"

"You said Jake–and I'm assuming he is one of the shapeshifters–was trying to talk himself into killing you. Why did he have to talk himself into it? How did you get away?"

"Well . . .," I start, uncomfortable with this particular topic. "As I said, he was a friend before I was changed." Nathan gives me an unconvinced look. "I mean . . . he was also in love with me, which I guess helped my case."

"So, let me get this straight. The shapeshifter–whose sole purpose is to kill vampires in order to protect humans–killed the vampire who was trying to drain you, but it was too late, and you were already changing. He then proceeded to let you go–a newborn vampire–because he was in love with you."

"That's the gist of it," I start. "But he was in love with Isabella Swan, and that girl died in that meadow that day. I'm not her anymore."

"Hence Bella No-Last-Name standing in front of me right now," Nathan states. "Hmm . . . were you in love with this shapeshifter too? Talk about star-crossed lovers."

I can tell by the tone of his voice he is trying to make a joke, but I can't bring myself to pretend. "No," I whisper, diverting my eyes from his. "Not him."

"Oh," he breathes, understanding in his voice. "This vampire you became close with before he left . . ."

"Can we drop it, please? I'm not . . . not ready–"

"That's why you're so drawn to help us," he says, more so talking to himself than me. "You understand our situation, much more than anyone else ever could."

I stay silent, realizing for this first time just how shockingly true his words are. I felt drawn to them since the beginning, and at first, I just thought it was because they were the first non-food source I have encountered since being changed. But all this time it's been because their story is so similar to mine, just with a different ending.

Nathan sighs loudly, and I finally look back at him and Jordan. "I swear the more questions you try to answer, the more questions you give me. Just how cursed are you? Does every bad thing within a hundred-mile radius find its way to you?"

I stare at him for a moment, before I shock even myself by laughing. "You don't even know the half of it."

Nathan smiles. "Look, we don't have to talk about the past anymore. I know you aren't lying about it being too painful to relive at the moment." He taps his head lightly before continuing. "I can't believe this. Your story is almost as . . ." he pauses, looking down at Jordan, "effed up as ours."

I snort. "Effed up, really?"

"Hey," he defends himself. "I'm doing my best here!"


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note**

* * *

Hello, my lovely readers! I don't typically write author's notes as I am not a huge fan of them, but I wanted to take this opportunity to answer a frequent question. For those of you that have asked, yes this is a reposted story. I started this story many years ago, and due to life getting in the way, this story had remained unfinished. Not finishing this story had always been one of my biggest regrets, so a few months ago I decided to take down this story for some major edits and start reposting it on a different thread as I needed a fresh start. For those wondering, this is the very first "new" chapter. Chapters one through eleven, while heavily edited, were part of the original story.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for the kind reviews! Reading your thoughts and predictions has quickly become one of my favorite parts of the week. Your reviews mean everything to me, so thank you so _so_ much! As a thank you for your reviews, I will leave you with this: We will likely be seeing a few other characters within the next few chapters!

* * *

 **Chapter 12: The Name**

* * *

At the beginning I always told myself our arrangement was merely temporary. I just wanted to make sure Nathan and Jordan would be okay and then I would be on my way.

Our first order of business had been figuring out what to do with Emma's body. Neither Nathan nor I could bear the thought of her being buried alone in an unmarked grave in the middle of the woods, so I carried her body to the edge of a well-used trail with the hope she would be found and could be given a proper funeral.

Nathan then decided it was time to leave and I found myself saying I would go with them, just to make sure they found somewhere safe.

The guilt Nathan felt at leaving Emma without knowing her body was found was extremely evident. He had cared for her deeply, but I don't think it was anything more than that. He had to put his daughter's safety above everything else and that meant leaving the city before we knew Emma's fate.

We didn't think it best to move by foot with a newborn baby, so Nathan reluctantly left Jordan with me in the woods while he ran into town to grab his few belongings, some baby things for Emma, and a stolen car. He had even thought to get a new pair of clothes for me, for which I was eternally grateful.

We drove for days on end, only stopping for blood and to feed Jordan who already looked as if she was a few months old. We had tried feeding her both blood and baby formula, and while she would drink both, she would only very reluctantly drink the formula.

After realizing the "vegetarian" vampire lifestyle was a possibility, Nathan had decided to give it a try. And so our routine began of one of us staying in the car with Jordan while the other fed in the woods and brought back blood for her.

All I have to say is if you've never seen a baby bottle filled with blood, consider yourself lucky.

Jordan required feeding every few hours like a typical baby and Nathan refused to give her anything less than "fresh" food, so we stopped frequently and Nathan and I took turns being the one to wait with Jordan. Neither of us really needed to feed that often, but with my being a recently turned vampire and Nathan's sudden change in diet, we figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

We eventually arrived on the east coast and decided it was best to stay away from humans for a bit, at least until we could be sure how Jordan was going to grow and act. We found an abandoned cabin deep within the Pocono Mountains that hadn't appeared to have been used in years. It was small and only consisted of one room – two if you counted the non-working bathroom – but it was miles away from civilization and it was everything we needed.

I could have left at that point – I at least had no more excuses for staying – but I just couldn't do it. Nathan was quickly becoming my best friend and Jordan wormed her way into my heart even faster.

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, and before I knew it Nathan was telling me I had to stay. We were a family now, he said, whether I liked it or not and when he told me he thought it was time Bella No-Last-Name became Bella Pierce, the sister and aunt of Nathan and Jordan Pierce, I found myself saying yes.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: The Family**

* * *

The wind rushes through my hair as I fly through the woods and I'm cursing myself for not tying it up. I just know I'm going to get to spend twenty minutes later fishing out all the tangles.

I hear a huff behind me and slow down with a chuckle before coming to a stop.

A minute later Jordan comes into view, her blonde curly hair in a messy knot of the top of her head.

"Aunt B," she pants, hands on her knees. "No one told _me_ we were being chased by a pack of rabid dogs. Why on _earth_ do you have to run so damn fast?"

"Hey, language!" I teasingly chastise, at which I receive only an eye roll. "And _I_ wasn't running fast, kiddo. _You_ were running slow – turtle slow."

Another huff. "Well, it's not my fault," she mumbles.

 _My little drama queen_ , I laugh to myself.

She _hates_ being half-human, although I'm not entirely sure that's what I'd call it. The vampire half won out for sure, but there are still differences between being a born vampire and being a created one. Having had a human mother has meant some of her vampire qualities are a bit muted. For one thing, she can run about ten times faster than any human but still can't keep up with me or Nathan when we're running full speed. The same can be said for the rest of her senses. They're much better than a human's but _slightly_ weaker than ours. It drives her crazy.

She also gets tired, requiring a few hours of sleep a week. She thinks it's the biggest nuisance while I'd do anything to be able to sleep again.

"Besides," she adds, raising from her hunch and arching an eyebrow. "Whatever happened to you and Dad running at my speed so I could keep up? I am only five you know."

I scoff. It may be true that she was born only five years ago, but she grew about four times faster than that of a human child – up until a year ago at least when she seemed to have stopped altogether.

"And yet you have the body of a sixteen-year-old and the intelligence of someone much older than that, Jay."

She fails at hiding her shy smile, rolling her eyes once again – the trademark Jordan Pierce move. She prides herself of her intelligence, just as she should, because my girl is _damn_ smart, even for a vampire.

"Come on, sweetheart," I say, walking over and throwing my arm over her shoulder – which used to be much easier when she wasn't three inches taller than me – before starting to walk at a human pace. "Let's do what we came in here to do. You haven't fed in three days. That's part of the reason you had such a hard time keeping up."

She groans loudly and I know I'm about to get the same lecture I've gotten a million times before.

"I still don't understand why we have to hurt cute, little animals. They've done nothing to deserve it!" she cries, throwing her hands up in the air, nearly hitting me in the face.

"Jordan," I sigh. "You know I agree with you but we don't really have a choice. Believe me, I don't like having to feed from animals any more than you do."

"Okay, but listen – no, no, just listen – there technically is another choice –"

"Jay," I groan. "We've talked about this. Human's don't deserve it either."

"Well, that theory certainly doesn't line up with what I know to be true about humans."

"You've never even met a human! We've lived up here since you were a week old."

"I've read enough books and watched enough movies to know I'm not a fan. I mean they've practically ruined this planet for one thing. There there's the stealing, lying, murder, and rape!"

"You know me and your dad used to be human, right?"

"I know and I really try my best not to hold that against you."

"Okay," I say, stopping our leisurely stroll as we reach the stream. "How about this? You're _half_ human."

She gasps, crossing her arms. "That. Was. Cruel."

I laugh, throwing my head back. "Come on, Jay. Vampires aren't that great either. Many would argue we're worse than humans. _Much_ worse."

"Hey, I never said vampires were better. We're just nice vampires."

"The nicest," I agree with a teasing smile.

Her eyes narrow. "Anyway, as I was saying before you so _rudely_ took us off track, we wouldn't have to kill anyone! We could steal blood from blood banks and – "

"Did you get that from one of your TV shows or books or something?"

"Maybe. But listen, we could get what we need without anyone getting hurt!" she exclaims, eyes alight and excitement laced through her voice.

"Jordan," I sigh, hating to have to be the one to disappoint her. "I love that you are always looking for a solution that doesn't hurt anyone. I always think I couldn't possibly love you more, but then you act like you and continually prove me wrong."

"I love you too, Aunt B," she says looking down, clearly knowing what's coming next.

"Sweetheart, stealing blood from a blood bank would just be too dangerous. For one thing, mine and your father's eyes would be red, which would make it much harder to blend in with the humans – especially considering the move. I'm also scared having the taste of human blood would make us more dangerous around humans."

She sighs, placing her head on my shoulder. "I get it, but I _will_ figure something out though – eventually."

"And there is no doubt in my mind that you will," I murmur, placing a kiss on the top of her head.

We stand there for a minute in silence before I catch a scent that makes me smile.

Just the thing to cheer my girl up.

A delighted gasp comes from beside me a moment later and Jordan darts off. I follow behind her and Nathan eventually comes into view running towards us.

Jordan launches herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck. He laughs, catching her and spinning her around.

"You're home early!" she laughs. He stops spinning and places her back on the ground, still keeping her close to his side with an arm thrown around her shoulders.

He lifts his other arm for me to walk under, which I do happily, wrapping an arm around his waist. "I couldn't bear to be away from my girls for too long, could I?" he says, squeezing our shoulders.

I scoff sarcastically. "You were gone less than forty-two hours and we were promised at _least_ three Nate-free days."

He glares playfully down at me, checking his hip into mine. "Don't try to pretend you guys didn't miss me just as much, Bells."

I chuckle, making no rebuttal because it's true. We may have only known each other for five years – which is practically _nothing_ when you live forever – but Nathan and Jordan have become my family and I love them more than anything.

"Of course we've missed you just as much, Dad," Jordan agrees.

"You are _such_ a daddy's girl, Jay," I laugh at her.

She shrugs her shoulders, not perturbed in the slightest. "Don't worry, I'm an Aunt Bella girl too."

Nathan chuckles, leaning down to sing in my ear, "She loves me more."

I give him a shove while Jordan says, "Whatever helps you sleep at night, Dad."

"Does that saying apply if one doesn't sleep?" he taunts back.

She waves him off with a flick of her wrist. "Whatever. But on to more important subjects," she declares, excitement building in her voice. "Do you have good news for us?"

The smile he gives her tells me all I need to know.

Nathan has been gone the last few days because he had a job interview at a small accounting firm. It isn't something he's thrilled about, but it's a necessity for the sake of appearances.

We've lived in these woods – away from all civilization – for the last five years. It turns out Nathan was a bit of a handyman back in his day so he was able to fix our cabin up pretty nice. Nathan or I would venture into the closest town whenever absolutely necessary, but we never allowed Jordan to leave our little safe haven.

It drives her crazy, but we both agreed it was too dangerous. We knew it was unlikely, but with how fast she was growing we feared people would ask questions and something could get back to the Volturi. It just wasn't a risk we were willing to take.

Nathan wants nothing more than to give her some semblance of a normal life, which is finally something we feel we can do. Since Jordan hasn't grown in over a year and she doesn't suffer from bloodlust, we both agree it's time to move out of our cabin and into the real world.

The three of us have been doing a lot of research this past month, trying to find the perfect town. When Jordan suggested Binghamton, New York we knew it was the perfect place. Due to its proximity to the Great Lakes, the town gets a lot of rain and cloudy days which will make it a lot easier for us to blend in. It also isn't too far of a run from where we are now, so we can easily get back to the cabin if something goes wrong.

In anticipation of when this day would arrive, Nathan has been taking trips down to Atlantic City to make money. He has a gift, being able to feel if one's intentions are true or not, making him unbeatable at poker. He's been able to make over seven figures over the last few years so we would be able to buy a house when we decided to join society, which we did two weeks ago. It's not super large, only four bedrooms, but it's secluded in this little patch of woods with no neighbors close by.

It's perfect for us but painfully reminds me of the home of another vampire family I once knew.

"I got the job," Nathan tells us and Jordan shrieks with glee, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Oh my god, that's amazing!" she cries. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You're awfully excited to join the human world when you seem to hate them so much, Jay," I tease her.

"I never said I _hated_ them. And getting to go to school and see something other than these woods will make everything worth it!"

I smile at her before looking up at Nathan. "So, when do we leave?"

"My start date is in two weeks, so I signed the two of you up to start school on the same day." Having had been changed at twenty-eight, Nathan couldn't pass for a high school student, hence the job. We decided our cover story would be that our parents passed a few years ago in a car accident and Nathan, being our older brother, has been our guardian ever since. "Everything is closed on the house, so we could really move whenever we want. Maybe take the next few days to pack and then move to the house so we have a week and a half to settle in?"

"I'll go get my stuff together now," Jordan calls over her shoulder, already running back towards the cabin.

"Jordan!" I call after her. "We haven't fed yet!"

"You know that girl's already gone, don't you?" Nathan chuckles.

I sigh, leaning my head against his shoulder. "Fine, but _you_ have to bring her back out later tonight."

I straighten up and start walking back towards the stream which is the easiest place to pick up the scent of my next meal.

A wicked smile on my face, I call back over my shoulder to Nathan, "You'll get to hear _all_ about her newest 'save the animals' campaign then."

"Great," he sarcastically mutters under his breath.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: The Necessities**

* * *

My human memories are hazy, but one thing I remember quite clearly is that high school is hell on earth, especially when you're the new kid. If you're immortal, you can take that hell and multiply it by a thousand – and that still doesn't come close to accurately depicting the torture I'm forced to endure day after day.

Jordan and I are the shiny new toys of Binghamton High. The first few days we were left in peace for the most part, except for the fact that practically every eye in the school was glued to our every move. The student body – and the faculty for that matter – were in awe of us, but kept their distance, seemingly unconsciously aware of the fact that it was in their best interest to stay away.

Sadly, that eventually wore off and it wasn't long before our braver peers – or stupider perhaps – started to approach us with party invitations, after-school mall trip proposals – which I didn't even realize was still a thing – and Nathan's favorite, date requests.

When Jordan let _that_ one slip, I thought it might be possible for a vampire to have a heart attack. Nathan flew off the handle and it took me hours to convince him he couldn't kill the boy. There was nothing I could do to stop the lecture, however. The worst part is that it wasn't only her that had to listen to him go on-and-on about how we were to stay away from boys – for six hours no less. I was forced to sit through it too as if I have _any_ interest in going on a date with a human high school student.

Not only do I have absolutely no interest, I've already seen two versions of how a vampire-human relationship plays out and I'm not a masochist.

Jordan loves the attention though, never before having had the chance to interreact with anyone other than me and Nathan. She's made plenty of in-school friends but always turns requests to hang out outside of school down politely, claiming her older siblings are overprotective, especially her brother, and she has to go straight home after school every day for family dinner.

The overprotective part isn't a lie at least and we _do_ have "family dinners" some nights after school, but I doubt they look anything like what her friends are imagining.

Me, on the other hand? I have no interest in interacting with humans. Just like Nathan's job, school is just a necessary evil for me, and it luckily didn't take too long for the students to figure out I'm not looking to make friends – the majority of them at least. At this point, I'm worried the few who haven't gotten the clue after three long months never will.

I spin the cap of my prop soda on the lunch table I currently sit at by myself at the back of the cafeteria. It twirls before slowly coming to a stop and falling on its top and I'm painfully pulled into a sense of déjá vu. I spun a cap of a drink on a cafeteria table not unlike this one once before, although that time I wasn't alone.

They happen more often than I would like to admit, the painful memories of Edward. I don't think memories of him will ever be not painful, knowing how we ended, and as much as I try to put him from my mind, it never works. I at least commend myself for finally being able to speak his name in my mind without wincing.

It's the small things in life.

I always thought it would get easier – less painful – over the years. I was led to believe by books and movies that time could heal any wound, especially a broken heart, and the pain would eventually dull.

What bullshit.

Don't get me wrong, I've never been delusional enough to think time would allow me to fall out of love with him. It's a simple fact that I'll love him – be _in_ love with him – for the rest of time. I know with every fiber of my being that will never go away and I'm honestly okay with that. As pathetic as it sounds and as painful as it is now, I would never wish away my time with him.

Still, I was stupid enough to believe dealing with everything – him not loving me, him leaving me, knowing I'll likely never see him again – would eventually get easier to deal with.

I mean, practice makes perfect, right?

And yet here I am, nearly six years later, and the pain is worse than ever. Each day away from him is more painful than the last and if I didn't know any better, I'd swear one of these days it's going to kill me.

The most pathetic part, though, is that it's not like I'm alone. I have a family – two people I love with my whole heart and would do anything for. People that love me back. I could understand feeling this way if I was still alone in those woods, but –

I'm luckily pulled from my inner therapy session by the soft sound of Jordan's laugh and I look up at the cafeteria door, knowing she will be walking in within the next minute.

"I can't believe that chem test was _so_ hard! I mean, does Mr. Grayson really have nothing better to do than make our lives hell?" Jenny whines, and I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

I can't say Jenny Heartgrave is one of my favorites of Jordan's friends.

It seems like everyone wants to be friends with my girl but none more desperate than Jenny and her group. Her whiny voice and dramatic over exaggeration of everything drives me crazy, but Jordan doesn't hate her so I try not to say anything.

 _Most_ of the time at least.

"I don't know," Jordan says gently, "I didn't think it was too bad."

"Well, of course it wasn't too bad for _you_. You're like a genius or something, girl," Jenny says sweetly, always trying to butter Jordan up.

Jordan finally walks through the cafeteria doors with a small smile on her face, closely followed by Jenny's small frame, the top of her head barely reaching Jordan's shoulder.

Jenny has short, light brown hair styled in a bob, with brown eyes and a wide smile. She's certainly not unfortunate to look at and is even pretty by human standards. I can understand why she's part of the popular crowd, which seems to always consist of the prettiest, richest, or most athletic people in the school.

"Hardly," Jordan chuckles. "Well, I'll see you later Jenny," she calls over her shoulder as she starts to make her way towards me.

"Wait," Jenny calls out, her nail-bitten hand grabbing Jordan's shoulder.

I have to physically stop the growl building in my throat. I know Jenny is absolutely no threat to Jordan, but how _dare_ she.

Jordan quickly shrugs off Jenny's hand but turns around to hear what she has to say.

"You know you don't have to sit with your sister right? I mean, we would love to have you sit with us!" Jenny gestures to a table in the middle of the cafeteria where the rest of her group that is in this lunch period sit – Laura, Kelly, Luke, Shauna, Allison, and Nick.

"I eat lunch with my sister, Jenny. I've already told you this."

"I know, but, I mean, she's your _older_ sister, right? I get that you sit with her because you feel bad she doesn't have any friends, but it's not fair that it keeps you from sitting with _your_ friends! I'm sure she would totally understand! It might even force her to branch out and–"

"I'll see you later, Jenny," Jordan cuts her off as she begins to navigate towards our table.

Her eyes find mine and she smiles. A second later she gracefully folds herself into the seat next to mine.

"Calm down, _Sis_ ," she whispers, wearing a teasing grin. She finds me and Nathan playing her sister and brother absolutely amusing. "I can handle Jenny."

"I have no doubts in my mind that you can handle her, Jay. You just shouldn't _have_ to. I still can't understand why you want to be friends with her –"

"I don't know if I'd go as far as to call us friends but it's better than having _no_ friends," she shoots back with a pointed look.

I gasp playfully, placing my hand over my heart and feigning hurt. "And here I was thinking _you_ were my best friend."

She rolls her eyes ay my antics but her stare softens nonetheless.

"We're obviously best friends, Aunt B."

"Damn straight, kid," I agree, playfully bumping my shoulder into hers.

She rolls her eyes at me once again as she reaches into her bag to pull out her container of pasta salad and her fork – the same exact container of pasta salad she's pretended to eat for the past three days.

Nathan bought the premade food for us at the grocery store over the weekend. It's easy to make it look like we're actually eating the stuff by simply pushing the food around. With an ice pack in our bags, it luckily normally lasts for a few days before it starts to go noticeably bad and we have to throw the prop away. No use in wasting more food than we have to.

"You know you can be friends with whoever you want –"

"Whomever," Jordan interrupts, pulling out her half-drunk water bottle, another little trick that makes it look like we're consuming human nutrients.

"What?"

"It's 'whomever you want', not whoever. One of the English books I read a while back has an entire chapter dedicated to the appropriate usage of 'whom'."

I can't help but laugh at the absurdity of my five-year-old niece correcting my grammar.

"Whatever, smarty pants," I chuckle. "You can be friends with _whom_ ever you want; I'm just surprised you picked Jenny."

"As I said, friends is a strong word, but having acquaintances is a necessity. Call it a social experiment. It's utterly _fascinating_ the absolutely trivial matters her and her friends worry about. In pre-calc yesterday, Kelly went on for _ten_ minutes about her broken nail. If it wasn't for my perfect hearing I wouldn't have been able to hear Mr. Livingston's explanation on the importance of the Pythagorean Theorem." She uncaps her water bottle and brings it to her lips, acting like she's taking a sip. "Besides," she adds as an afterthought. "It's better being here than being in those woods with no human interaction at all."

"Touché," I agree. I may have loved our cabin, but there _is_ something to living in the real world. I especially love how happy it makes Jordan.

"So," she adds excitedly, "are you ready for tomorrow? The forecast still says cloudy and sparse showers!"

No, I'm not ready for tomorrow, but Jordan doesn't need to know that. "Yea, this'll be my first time to the city too so it'll be cool to see."

"I know! I mean think about all the history it holds! Did you know the Status of Liberty, one of the most American symbols there is beside the flag, was actually a gift from France? Isn't that crazy?" She then proceeds to spend the rest of the lunch period sounding like a textbook.

With Jordan posing as a freshman student and me posing as a sophomore, we sadly only share two periods together: lunch and an Immigration History elective she talked me into taking with her because "an important part of understanding humans is understanding the pasts they've endured to get to where they are today." She always seems to forget the fact that I have no problem understanding humans seeing as I used to _be_ one. The way she talks you'd think humans are some alien species.

I guess to her they kind of are.

When our Immigration History teacher, Mr. White, told us about the field trip we would be taking to New York City to visit one of the most important landmarks in U.S. immigration history, Ellis Island, I swear Jordan nearly fainted.

A part of me is really excited to be going into the city. It's always been a place I wanted to visit and as much as I like to make fun of Jordan for her obsession, I'm sure Ellis Island will really be interesting.

A larger part of me, however, can only focus on everything that could go wrong.

A city that size with so many people crammed in per square inch has to make an ideal hunting ground for nomad vampires. The chances of running into another vampire are slim, but not impossible, and I feel like our chances are much greater in the city.

I've unexpectedly come across vampires three times in my life. The first time I had my heart broken and my soul shattered. The second time I was attacked and my life as I knew it was brutally ended. And the third time I found my family. While meeting vampires doesn't always lead to pain, the odds aren't in my favor and that's not a risk I'm looking to take – especially with Jordan around.

There are also a million other things that could go wrong, but I talked about it with Nathan and we decided, as long as the weather is rainy or cloudy, Jordan and I would go. She is so excited for it and it would look odd if Jordan and I were the only ones out of the whole class to miss the field trip.

She's been checking the weather like a crazy person and as luck would have it, New York City has been under rain clouds all week – the perfect weather for a vampire outing.

Lovely.

As Nathan has told me a million times – all while also trying to convince himself – everything will be fine.

I mean, what could go wrong, right?


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: The Gift**

* * *

The rest of the day drags by, but eventually, the bell rings, sounding my freedom.

 _Finally_.

After making a quick stop at my locker to drop off the history textbook I needed for my last period, I quickly pop in my headphones and make my way towards the front doors so I can escape to my car. I don't bother to plug in the headphones, simply placing the end of the cord in my pocket. I don't wear them for the music. I've learned that people are less likely to try to engage if they think you are listening to something.

"Hey, Bella!"

 _Most_ of the time at least.

While I'm not here to make friends, I also don't want to draw too much attention to myself by coming off as a _complete_ bitch. I also don't feel like dealing with this at the moment though, so I quickly decide to keep walking and hope Tom gives up.

I have to physically stifle a groan when I hear the quick slapping of feet across the tile floors that means he has started to run towards me.

"Bella Pierce!" he calls louder this time. "Wait up!"

This time I can't stop myself from letting out a low groan.

 _No, I'm not getting out of this one._

I can feel him come up behind me and with the slight movement of air, I can tell he has risen his hand, likely to place if on my shoulder.

 _No, thank you._

I side step his hand, but look behind me and act surprised. Pulling the left earbud out, I offer him a small smile and greeting. "Oh, hey, Tom."

Tom Tucker, one of the people in this school that has yet to give up and leave me alone.

"Hey, Bella," he says with a wide smile as he opens the door to the parking lot and motions for me to walk through.

I offer him my thanks but make a beeline for my car.

"I didn't realize you had headphones in. I thought you were ignoring me or something." He chuckles gently and runs a hand through his brown hair.

 _No, I would_ never _do that._

"You were walking fast. Do you have somewhere to be?"

"Yes, I have to get home for dinner."

"Home for dinner?" he chuckles again. "It's only three o'clock! Does your family do the early bird special or something?"

"I have to run to the store first and then I want to get my homework done before I start to cook, so I've really got to get going," I lie easily, praying he will drop it and walk away.

Sadly there is no one answering my prayers.

"Oh," he says, nodding his head up and down, reminding me of a bobblehead. "I totally get it. It's great how dedicated to your school work you are."

"Thanks," I mutter as we get to my car, a black Chevy SUV. I open the driver's side door and throw my bag over the seat into the back.

I can hear Tom's heartbeat pick up – the same way it does every time he plucks up the courage to ask me to do something.

Tom's extremely attractive by human measures with his short brown hair, blue eyes and tall, athletic build. It doesn't hurt that he's on the football team either. Not that it matters to me, but I can see how that would add to the appeal for my peers. He could likely get a date with anyone else in this school, but he's so pigheaded and can't seem to get over the fact that he can't get _me_. I think I'm the first one that has ever turned him down and his bruised ego can't seem to accept it.

He asked me out on a date on my second day here and while he hasn't asked me out directly since then, he is always coming up with excuses for us to hang out outside of school. I heard him telling his friends once that he just needs to get me to spend time with him and I'll be the one begging _him_ for a date.

I nearly gag just thinking about it.

"So," he starts, leaning against the side of my car, "I was wondering if you wanted to get together tonight – after your family dinner of course – to study for Immigration History."

With Tom being a Junior, I luckily only have that one class with him. "Studying" for it is, therefore, one of his favorite excuses to get me to hang out with him.

"Oh, do we have a test coming up?" I ask, feigning worry.

With tomorrow being Friday and the day of the field trip, we definitely won't be having any tests or pop quizzes this week.

"No," he mumbles, shuffling his feet awkwardly. "Um, I was just thinking it couldn't hurt to start preparing for the next one."

I hear Jordan's tinkling laugh and look up to see her standing by the school's front doors. I restrain myself from shooting her a glare, knowing she's probably stood back and watched this whole train wreck rather than help me.

"Oh, gotcha," I say, looking back at Tom. "Thanks for the invite but as I've mentioned, my sister is in that class too so I study with her."

"Oh, right," he says dejectedly, but he covers up his disappointment quickly. "Well, if you guys ever need a third study partner or she's sick or something, you know who to call."

"Ghostbusters?" Jordan mumbles under her breath from her spot by the school entrance.

I bite my lip forcefully to stop myself from laughing. The worst part is that that stupid joke isn't even that funny.

I nod my head to Tom, trying to get myself under control. "Sounds good," I manage to offer non-committedly.

Jordan finally makes her way over to the car. "Hey, Tom," she smiles at him as she opens the passenger side door.

"Hi, Jordan," he replies back in a resentful tone.

 _Alright, that's enough._

I half get in the car before pointedly looking at Tom's hip which is still pressed against my car.

"So," I say, looking back up at his face, "see you tomorrow, Tom?"

"Oh," he exclaims, pulling away from the car and taking a few steps backward. "Yes, of course, Bella. Maybe we can sit together on the bus!"

I offer a tight-lipped smile but don't trust myself to respond verbally. I jump the rest of the way in the car and start backing out before the door's fully closed.

"What is that kid's problem?" I growl to myself as Jordan chuckles. The little traitor always finds joy in my misfortune.

" _You're_ his problem," she says matter-of-factly. "The problem in his pants at least."

I gasp and shoot her a glare. "That barely even makes any sense." She shrugs nonchalantly. "And _besides_ , you're _way_ too young to be making sex jokes!"

Another shrug. "You're the one who said I have the body to a sixteen-year-old, Aunt B, and you know what most sixteen-year-olds are doing these days."

I groan to myself, literally in pain from this conversation. "Thank God you're _nothing_ like most kids then. I swear if your father could hear you now, joking or not, I wouldn't put it past him to kill every male within a hundred-mile radius."

Jordan giggles and waves me off. "Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm just joking around with my favorite aunt then, hmm?"

I can't physically stop myself from rolling my eyes when she throws me a wink for good measure.

She _literally_ winked at me.

 _This kid, I swear._

"You're such a little weirdo."

"Yea, but if you want to see some real weirdos, you should see the people that raised me," she shoots back.

We pull up to the house and I playfully growl at her. She laughs at her joke and jumps out of the car before quickly running into the house. I laugh to myself as well, loving to see her so care-free, as I walk into the house at a human pace.

Walking through the front door, I throw my keys up on the key hook before making my way up the stairs to the second floor. I pass Jordan's open door and see her sitting on her bed, fingers already flying across the keyboard of the laptop that sits on the bed in front of her. It doesn't take a genius to guess she's likely doing more research on Ellis Island in preparation for tomorrow.

As if she doesn't know everything there is to know already. That girl has practically spent every free minute she's had since she found out about this trip doing research. At this point, I think she probably knows more about that island and its history than any other living person, but apparently "there's no such thing as being over prepared."

I reach the door at the end of the hall and open it before walking through and throwing my backpack on the bed that's never used for sleep.

I love this room. Nathan got the master bedroom across the hall from Jordan's room since he's the "adult" in our family and we need that to be believable. Not that we ever plan on someone outside of our family ever coming inside this house, but when Nathan made that weak argument, I didn't bother fighting him on it. The second I saw this room, I knew it was mine.

It's nearly half the size of the master, but it still has more than enough room for me. On the same wall as the door sits my queen size bed, which faces the large window that looks out onto the backyard. On either side of the bed sits a bedside table which are both currently cluttered in books and my laptop. The wall to the left of the bed holds the doors to my small bathroom and closet and a small futon sits in front of the window overlooking the backyard.

My favorite part of the room, however, and the reason I knew I had to have it, is the wall to the right of my bed which is entirely made up of built-in bookcases.

Walking up to the bookcases, I run my hand along the spines of the books and chose one at random. I then curl up on the futon and get lost in another world.

It's in that same spot that Nathan finds me a couple of hours later when he gets home from work.

"Honey, I'm home!" he calls jokingly from my doorway before walking in and plopping down ungracefully on my bed.

I gasp in mock horror and place my hand over my heart. "Oh no, dear! I haven't even started on dinner yet!"

He sighs dramatically. "Just what am I going to do with you, sweet cheeks?"

"But, honey bunny, I've just been so busy today doing the –"

"Honey bunny?" he interrupts effectively ending our little joke with a look of disgust on his face.

"Yup," I say. I place a bookmark in my book and put it next to me on the couch. "You look like a honey bunny."

"I do _not_ look like a honey bunny," he growls. "I mean, what does that even mean?"

"See? If you don't know what it means, how do you know you don't look like one?"

"Play nice, you two!" we hear Jordan call from her room, not needing to be in the same room as us to hear our bickering. " _Some_ people in this house have work to do."

We both snicker and Nathan rolls his eyes – a bad habit both me and Jordan have picked up from him. "Where did that kid come from?" he asks me.

"I don't know but she _definitely_ didn't get her love of academia from you."

"Rude, but I'm not even gonna fight you on that one." He pauses and lies back on the bed. "Hmm . . . maybe she's an alien?" he offers.

"That would totally make sense. I mean, she is a little odd . . ."

A huff comes from down the hall followed by the sound of feet padding on the hardwood floors. A second later Jordan walks through the door and sits on the bed next to Nathan with her legs folded under her. With another huff she tells us with sarcasm dripping from her every word, "Wow, you guys are just really funny, ya know that? You should start a comedy special."

I can see what Nathan's about to do a second before he does it. His arms snake around Jordan's waist and he pulls her down so she falls down on his chest. "Oh, my sweet little alien!" he cries, peppering kisses all over every part of her face he can reach.

"Dad!" she giggles. "Knock it off!"

When he doesn't stop, she tries to push off his chest, and when that doesn't work, she calls out, "Aunt Bella! Aren't you going to help?"

"Of course, Jay! Nate, if you sit up just a bit, you'll be able to get the other side of her face – "

"Ugh!" she cries out. "You two are _so_ embarrassing!"

Nathan abruptly stops and sits them both up, keeping an arm around her shoulder. With a huge grin on his face, he says with a wiggle of his eyebrows, "Did you hear that, Bells? We're embarrassing!"

"I know!" I tell him with a laugh. "We must really be doing this parenting thing right."

We share a triumphant fist bump at Jordan's expense, to which she groans, but fails to hide her smile.

"Well, as fun as this was," Jordan interrupts our celebration, "I've got some homework to do."

"What? I just got home, Jay," Nathan protests, giving her puppy dog eyes – something I've told him multiple times no self-respecting twenty-eight-year-old man should ever do. "Come on, hang out with us for a few more minutes. Your homework will take you, what, five minutes, anyway?"

She rolls her eyes and sighs but makes no move to get up. "Ya know," she says, "I'm no expert on parenting like the two of _you_ , but I'm _pretty_ sure you're supposed to be warning me against peer pressure, not _be_ the ones peer pressuring me into not doing my homework."

"Hey, don't drag me into this," I protest. "I'm not pressuring anyone," I say, putting finger quotes around 'pressuring.'

"I'm simply instilling in you the importance of family time," Nathan defends. "Anyway, speaking of your homework, how was school?"

"It was good, same-old-same-old," Jordan shrugs. "I'm really looking forward to tomorrow though."

"I bet," he agrees, nodding. "So . . . either of you girls make any new friends?" he questions in a tone he is clearly trying – and failing – to make come off as casual.

 _Here we go again._

I take a moment to focus as Jordan rolls her eyes as she answers. "No, Dad. No new friends."

"Nope," I agree, popping the p.

Nathan's eyes shoot to mine and he glares at me. "Bella," he growls. "How am I ever supposed to believe either of you when you throw that damn shield down anytime I ask simple questions?"

About a year after we met, we discovered Nate wasn't the only one with a gift. Around that time he had started asking me more personal questions about my past – about the Cullens – but it wasn't something I was ready to talk about and the questions made me uncomfortable.

I knew he was only pushing because he cared, but it made me angry that he wouldn't just drop it. I knew even then that he was right when he told me it was unhealthy to carry something clearly so painful around – something that nearly broke me – and the only way I could possibly start to move on would be to talk about it and start to deal with the pain.

Knowing he was right didn't stop me from blowing up at him though. He wasn't shocked by the blowup and even calmly told me he was happy to sit there and be my verbal punching bag if that's what I needed to start working through my emotions, as long as I started to work through them. I swear he was a therapist in a past life.

He _was_ shocked, however, by the fact that he could no longer feel me.

With the way Nathan's gift works, he doesn't have to try or put forth any effort to know if someone is lying to him. He can just always simply feel those around him and know if they are telling the truth or not.

At that moment, however, he wasn't only not able to tell if I was being truthful or not, he wasn't able to feel me at all. He could still feel Jordan so we knew it was something going on with me and not his gift.

Over the next few weeks, Nate and I began practicing and testing my gift, and I really threw myself all in to avoid the embarrassment I felt at the way I treated Nathan when he was just trying to help me.

Before long, I learned how to control it and turn my shield – as we came to call it – on and off like a light switch with relatively little effort. We even came to realize it didn't have a natural position because once I turn it on or off, I don't have to focus to keep it in either position.

It still took another year for me to be ready to tell Nathan everything about my past, but I eventually got there. He couldn't stop talking about how proud of me he was for opening up for weeks afterward. I've never before in my life had such a strong urge to both kill and hug someone at the same time.

After finding out about Edward's gift and that he couldn't read my mind even when I was only a human, Nathan developed a few theories about my gift. For one thing, Nathan believes I've clearly always had this gift, but when I was human I wasn't able to control it and my shield was therefore always locked in the 'on' position. Now that I'm a vampire, I've gained the ability to control it.

We also believe I should be able to block any mental gift vampires could have, not that we're keen to test this theory out, seeing as this would mean we would have to actually be around other vampires.

His final theory was one we were actually able to prove true. Since my shield was fully active while I was human – even if I wasn't able to control it – Nathan figured it's probably a lot more powerful than either of us even realized.

We spent countless hours practicing and eventually I learned how to push out my shield to protect Jordan from Nathan's gift as well as myself. Since then, we've also practiced in public to see just how many people I could shield at once. While the humans didn't realize they were taking part in our little experiment, when I put my shield over them, Nathan wasn't able to feel them or know if their intentions were true or not. At this point, we've realized my limitation doesn't so much come from how many people I can have under my shield at once, but how far I can push it out.

As far as we can tell, I can push the shield out to a maximum of about 100 feet in every direction. The further I push it out, though, the harder it is for me to hold.

I don't use this aspect of my gift often as I've had no need. I mainly only use it to annoy Nathan as I am now.

He absolutely _hates_ it when he can't feel us. It's one of the main reasons I leave my shield off most of the time. I made an argument for always leaving it on, but Nathan practically begged me not to.

His gift isn't as short ranged as mine and he can 'feel' people up to about a mile away. It's not so much about wanting to know if I'm ever lying to him as much as it is about being able to feel me and know that I'm safe, something that has become even more important to him since we moved into the human world and are separated for multiple hours each day. He claims being able to feel Jordan and me and know everything is okay with both of us is the only thing keeping him sane while he's at work.

Now though, he deserves it. Almost every day he tries to nonchalantly ask us if either of us have made any new friends – AKA boys that probably want us as more than just friends.

"Did you ever consider that I throw my shield down just to drive you crazy and not because either of us are lying to you?" I ask him sweetly, not intimidated by his harsh glare in the slightest.

"Believe me, I _know_ you do it to drive me crazy. But that still doesn't mean you aren't _also_ doing it because you're lying."

" _Dad_ ," Jordan groans. "How many times do we have to tell you that we have no interest in dating? Aunt Bella is in love with someone else and all I want to do is focus on my education."

As much as I hate how much her argument about me is true, it's true nonetheless, and I nod my head at Nathan to show I agree with Jordan's every word.

"It's not you two I'm worried about –"

"Nathan," I interrupt, "we're _vampires_. A human boy couldn't take advantage of either of us even if he was stupid enough to try."

"I know, but –"

"No, no buts. I'm done with this conversation. We literally have it every single day. Enough."

Jordan nods her head and Nathan continues to glare at me, but he doesn't continue the argument, knowing there's no way he's going to win.

I stand up from my place on the couch and place my hands on my hips.

"Now, come on, you two. It's time for a family dinner."

Jordan wrinkles her nose and Nathan makes no move to get up.

"Now!" I tell them, walking out of the room and heading downstairs. "If Jay and I are going to New York City tomorrow, we sure as shit aren't doing it on empty stomachs. We've talked about this. We're taking every precaution available and precaution one is hunting."

There are grumbles behind me, but seconds later I hear shuffling feet making their way downstairs.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: The Island**

* * *

Jordan is practically bouncing in her seat by the time we get our first view of the city.

"It's beautiful," she whispers, eyes wide and nose nearly pressed against the window of the bus to get a better view of the skyline.

I'm happy she's enjoying this so much, but my dread is mounting with every mile closer to the city we get. I know I'm being paranoid, but I can't stop thinking about the fact that all the tall buildings are going to hinder my senses. I'm not going to be able to smell, hear, _or_ see as far. If there's a threat, I might not be able to detect it until it's too late . . .

I sigh and lean my head back against the seat. I know I'm being completely ridiculous.

When I first found out about this trip, I was excited. Not anywhere near as excited as Jordan, but I thought it would be cool to see the city. As the trip's gotten closer, though, my unease has continued to grow, and my imagination has run wild with all the things that would go wrong.

I try to calm all the erratic thoughts swimming through my mind when I feel a shove against my side. Jordan mumbles under her breath, only loud enough for me to hear, "Aunt B, I don't think you've moved once in the past ten minutes. Human it up a bit."

"My bad." I make sure to start breathing, and I even throw in some stretches for good measure.

When she offers me a worried glance, I send her a smile back, and a look I hope says everything is okay.

 _You're being crazy,_ I tell myself. _Completely irrational. It's time to calm down and woman up. You're not going to let your anxiety ruin this for Jordan._

The bus eventually pulls over and our teacher, Mr. White, stands at the front, once again going over everything he expects of us.

Jordan squeals in delight as we step off the bus, and I chuckle to myself, trying to push all my negative feelings aside.

A short ferry ride later and we arrive on the island. Jordan and I end up at the back of the group disembarking. Jordan walks a few steps ahead of me, eager to start soaking up the history of the place no doubt, but as soon as her feet touch the pier, she freezes.

"Jay?" I question her.

Her face is a mask of confusion, but a second later she shakes her head. "Sorry," she mumbles.

"Are you okay?" I'm quick to ask.

"Yea, just feel a bit weird." When this doesn't dissipate my worried look, she chuckles. "Relax, B. It's probably just from all the excitement I've got bottled up. I don't know if you know this, but I've _really_ been looking forward to this," she teases.

I scoff. "You? Excited? As if." I give her a quick once over and decide she looks normal. "Okay, just promise to tell me if anything's wrong."

"You got it," she promises with a wink. "Now, come on. We've gotta catch up. Everyone else is almost as security." She points to the end of the pier where our classmates are getting ready to get in one of the three security lines.

We hurry down the pier and make our way to the shortest line. It luckily doesn't take long, but as we stand there, I notice Jordan is acting weird. She should be taking my ear off in true Jordan fashion, but instead, she stands there quietly, nervously fidgeting with her hands. When I try asking her what's wrong, she once against tells me she's fine and gives me a look asking me not to push it.

I fight against every instinct telling me not to, and I try my best to swallow my anxiety and give Jordan some space.

It doesn't take long before we've all walked through the metal detectors and had our bags searched. Mr. White, having gone first, stands off to the side, talking to a tall, thin middle-aged woman. They speak for another minute, and then he calls attention to himself and the woman. "Alright, Class, this is Stephanie, and she's going to be our guide today. I expect all of you to listen to her and show her respect. There will be a project you'll be completing on this material in class next week, so pay close attention," he warns.

Stephanie tucks a piece of her short blonde hair behind her ear and offers a kind smile. "Hello, everyone," she greets, taking the time to make brief eye contact with everyone in the group. "As Mr. White stated, my name is Stephanie, and I'm going to be your guide today. Now another school is supposed to be joining our tour, but they're running a little late because of some traffic. Mr. White has been kind enough to agree to wait for them to arrive and allow all of you the chance to spend the next 30 minutes exploring on your own. Now the only rules are you may not leave the island, and you must stay with at least one of your peers at all times. I'm assuming you're all familiar with the buddy system?" Everyone murmurs their agreement. "Great! In 30 minutes then we will meet in front of the museum, right over there." She points out the front of a large building. "Anything to add, Mr. White?"

He shakes his head, but adds, "Just be on your best behavior and remember we are all representatives of our school while we are on this trip."

With that, the class disperses, and I can see Tom trying to catch my eye, so I quickly turn to Jordan.

"So, what do you want to check out first?" I ask her, but she doesn't seem to hear me, her eyes wide and fixed on a spot over my left shoulder.

"Jay?" I wave a hand in front of her face. She blinks slowly, and her eyes meet mine. I'm met with the face of a scared little girl, and my stomach drops. "Sweetheart?" I question, my voice thick with worry. "What's wrong?"

"I . . . I don't –" She looks back over my shoulder and shakes her head. I quickly glance back but don't see anything that would make her this upset. When I look back at her, she looks confused again. "I think I just need some air," she tells me, but it sounds more like a question.

"Alright." I glance around and notice the majority of the class started walking towards the museum, so I steer her towards the water, our backs to the city.

The wind gushes against us, causing my hair to fan out behind me. I hear Jordan taking deep breathes beside me, and I try to give her a minute, knowing the last thing she needs is me crowding her, though I want to do nothing more. I slowly rub my hand across her back as we look out at the water.

"It's not getting any better," she whispers under her breath.

I quickly turn towards her and grasp her shoulders, turning her towards me, no longer able to just stand there.

"What's not getting any better?" I ask urgently.

In the blink of an eye, everything seems to go from bad to worse. So much worse.

She doesn't seem to hear me, and her shoulders begin to shake in my hands as she once again stares at something over my shoulder. Her eyes wide and unfocused, she slowly lifts her unsteady hand as if to touch whatever she's looking at, but when her hand meets nothing but air, she groans and pulls the hand back quickly to clutch her head.

Her eyes finally meet mine, and the tragic, terrified look on her face makes my heart break. My breath starts to come almost as quickly as hers, and every atom in my body is in physical pain for not knowing how to help her when she's suffering.

" _Please,"_ I plead with her. "Tell me what's wrong. Tell me how to fix it."

"You can't see them, can you?" she cries, hands still gripping her head as if they're the only thing holding her together.

"See who, Jay?" I ask as I look around. I don't see anything, and I hate myself for not knowing what she's talking about.

If I could just figure out what the hell she's talking about, I could figure out how to stop this, how to help her.

"You can't. I knew you couldn't. You can't see them, and you can't hear them." She cries harder and begins to slightly rock herself back and forth. "And they're _so_ loud. Why are they so loud, Aunt B? It hurts. It hurts so bad."

I choke back a sob and force myself to be strong for her even though it feels like my whole world is imploding in on itself.

I just don't understand how everything could be fine one moment and like this the next.

"Oh, sweetheart," I whimper as I clutch her close to me. "I'm going to figure out how to fix this. I'm going to figure out how to help you," I promise her. "Just, _please_ , tell me what's wrong."

The only answer I receive is sobs against my shoulder.

I try to push away all the panic so I can think clearly, but it's like my brain is trapped in a fog that refuses to dissipate.

Somewhere in the back on my mind, I notice the horn of the ferry announcing its arrival to the island. It takes a couple of seconds, but I focus on that sound, knowing it's important. Then like a bulldozer, it hits me.

The ferry!

I need to get Jordan on that ferry so we can get off this damn island and get home. Everything will be better if we can just get home to Nathan. We'll be able to figure this out together as a family and Jordan will be okay again. Better than okay.

I keep chanting the plan to myself like a mantra.

"It's going to be okay, Jay. Can you walk, baby?" I ask her quickly, barely recognizing my voice.

I can obviously carry her if I need to, but it will attract a lot of unwanted attention. I honestly don't give a fuck at this point, but I'm also scared of what it means if she can't walk on her own. If she's able to walk on her own, this somehow can't be as bad as it seems. I _need_ her to be able to walk.

"Jordan, _please,_ answer me. Tell me you can walk," I beg her. I don't receive an answer as she continues to sob into my shoulder, her whole frame shaking like a leaf. I have the sinking suspicion she can't even hear me at this point, and I quickly rush out, "Can you hear me, baby? Say my name if you can hear me. Say _anything."_

"Bella?"

But my name doesn't come from Jordan's sweet voice.

It feels like every molecule in my body freezes. My first thought is that this is like all those times before I was changed when I would imagine that voice in times of danger. I will it to go away, _nowhere_ near strong enough for all the feelings it causes to break out of the box I thought was safely locked tight – not with everything else going on.

I take a deep breath to calm myself and to wash the voice out, but the second I pull the air in, the scent of vampire floods my system.

I whirl around in the blink of an eye, my arms tightening impossibly more around Jordan, knowing exactly what I'm going to see behind me, even though a part of me refuses to believe it.

I'm met with five pairs of shocked, golden eyes, and the only thought my mind can muster is that this godforsaken day cannot possibly get any more fucked up.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: The Inevitable**

* * *

I'll be honest. A small part of me always assumed I'd run into the Cullens again at some point during the rest of my existence. It just felt inevitable. Two immortal families trying to lead normal lives and, therefore, needing to find areas with plenty of wildlife to hunt and an abundance of overcast days to call home every few years. I'd accepted that chances were our paths may cross.

But I _never_ thought it would happen so soon.

The shock of seeing the five Cullen siblings again, seeing _him_ again, floods over me like an ice-cold river, and I'm suddenly frozen, unable to resist letting my eyes flicker over every inch of Edward's face – a face that looks exactly the same, yet my memory didn't do justice.

It takes only a second for the dam I built around everything that happened to break as easily as a toothpick and it feels like I'm physically choking on all the emotions that hit me like a bulldozer.

It doesn't escape my notice that Edward can't seem to tear his eyes away from me either, his face a mix of shock and pain.

With a sharp twist in my gut, I realize his pain doesn't mirror mine.

Jordan's soft whimper brings me back to reality and I quickly throw down my shield around us, shifting my body so it's shielding hers.

Jordan lets out a soft gasp and her body stills. For one precious second, I'm relieved, believing she's starting to get better and come back to her sense, but then her entire body slumps against mine. My stomach drops as I realize she's lost consciousness.

"Jordan," I cry, as I take on the full weight of her body. "Jordan, wake up. Wake the hell up." I clutch her body tightly to mine and shake her, willing her to open her eyes and just be okay.

My phone starts ringing from my pocket and I don't have to look at the caller ID to know who it is. The second I threw down my shield I practically sent out an SOS to Nathan.

Before I have a chance to answer the call, the sound of the ringtone seemingly appears to knock at least one of the Cullen siblings out of their shock for it's then that a familiar voice gasps out my name.

My eyes snap up in time to see Alice take a step towards me and without ever making the conscious decision to do so, my body instinctively moves into a defensive crouch – or as much of one as I can manage while supporting Jordan's unresponsive body.

I don't miss the flash of hurt that crosses her face before she quickly covers it with a carefully calm expression, but I can't bring myself to feel guilty – or _anything_ else for that matter – the number of emotions my body is able to hold officially having met its quota. She puts her hands up, clearly trying to convey she means no threat and tries again. "Bella, what – no how –"

But another voice cuts her off as Rosalie steps forward and in the back of my mind, I notice she's never before talked to me in such a kind voice.

"Is she okay, Bella?" Rosalie asks as she gestures to Jordan.

"No," I quickly answer, my eyes pleading with Rosalie's for help. "I – I don't know what happened. She was fine and then all of a sudden she was like this and I don't know how to help her. I don't know what to do," I choke out. "She _has_ to be okay; she can't not be okay," I add, more to myself than to anyone else.

Rosalie nods and takes another hesitant step towards us, giving me a look that is clearly asking me if it's okay to come closer. I eye her warily but know she's no threat and I'm not in a place where I can turn down help, so I give her a quick dip of my chin.

As she takes another few steps closer, I relax my defensive stance so I can better support Jordan's body.

"Who is she, Bella?" she asks softly.

"She's," _my niece, my best friend, my sister, my daughter,_ everything _, "_ Jordan," I finally croak out. "She's Jordan."

"Okay, well we need to take Jordan – "

But she doesn't get the chance to finish that thought before the ferry horn honks again, and without even thinking I start quickly walking towards it, just knowing I need to get Jordan off of this fucking island.

Unfortunately, my path to the ferry causes me to walk right past Edward and his hand quickly shoots out and softly grasps my arm, which sends a bolt of electricity shooting through my body. "Bella," he pleads softly, but for what I don't know.

I meet his eyes and allow myself to feel everything for just two seconds – the pain, the betrayal, the shock, the anger, and most frustratingly of all, the love and joy of seeing him again – before pushing all of those feelings back and vowing to deal with them later because here and now isn't the time or the place. The only thing that matters right now in Jordan.

"No," I tell him and he quickly drops his hand, but I don't fail to notice the pain in his eyes is now worse than ever.

"Not now," he agrees. "But don't even think for a second I'm not coming with you."

I don't have the energy to respond so I don't as I continue walking towards the ferry, all five Cullen siblings hurrying after me.

Rosalie makes her way to my side. "We'll take her to Carlisle, Bella. He'll know what to do, how to help her. She's going to be okay."

"Carlisle," I gasp. Why didn't I think of it sooner? The very second I saw the Cullens? If there is one person in this world that can help Jordan, I believe with my whole heart it is Carlisle Cullen, with all the research he has done on vampires over the centuries. He obviously never mentioned it while I knew him, but he might even be familiar with half-vampires, I realize and hope starts to blossom in my chest, hope that Carlisle will be able to help her and she will be okay. "Yes, we need to get her to Carlisle as soon as possible. Where is he? How far away?"

Alice is the one to answer as she appears on my other side.

"We drove here in Emmett's SUV. We had the day off school because of a teacher in-service day and Jasper convinced us it was the perfect opportunity to visit here because of the cloudy weather. You remember how he's a history nut?" I give her a sharp look telling her I don't care and to get on with it. "Right, sorry. We didn't like the idea of coming into the city unprepared so we booked a hotel room just in case the sun decided to peak out and we needed a place to wait it out. We'll have Carlisle meet us there. He and Esme decided to take advantage of the weather and come to the city too, but they've both already been here, so they decided to walk around instead," Alice finishes and I notice with gratitude that Rosalie is already calling Carlisle.

A second later Carlisle answers, but I don't hear their conversation as it's at that moment that Mr. White spots us and comes running towards us. "Ms. Pierce! Stop, Ms. Pierce!"

I don't stop walking, but he unfortunately wasn't that far away and catches up just as we reach the ferry.

"Where on Earth do you think you're going? You can't leave without the group! What's happened to her?" he asks finally noticing Jordan.

"My sister has passed out, Mr. White. I need to get her to a hospital," I reply as I get on to the ferry.

Unfortunately, Mr. White follows us on. "I'm sorry to hear that, but that doesn't just mean you can leave! You need supervision and I'm the only chaperone here because Ms. Appleton had to call out sick today. I can't both go with you and stay with the rest of the class at the same time. I'm going to need you to step off the ferry, Ms. Pierce and we will call 911 and have emergency services dispatched to us immediately."

"No," I tell him and move to walk past him towards the seating area.

"Ms. Pierce," he exclaims and grabs my arm.

What is it with all these men today and thinking they can touch me?

Edward growls deeply and I notice Emmett and Jasper hold him back out of the corner of my eye.

Mr. White sends Edward a terrified look and his hand drops from my arm immediately.

"You couldn't force me off this ferry, Mr. White, even if you tried to drag me kicking and screaming," I bite out. "Now unless you want a lawsuit on your hands, I suggest you stop trying to prevent me from leaving this island and let me get my sister to a doctor."

"There are rules, procedures –" he stammers.

"Rosalie, would you mind grabbing my phone out of my pocket and holding it up to my ear? Back right pocket." I've barely even finished before she's finishing the phone out, answering the call, and holding it up to my ear. Mine and Jordan's phones haven't stopped ringing since I didn't answer Nathan's first call. Every time my phone stops ringing, her's starts and vice versa.

"Bella, what the fuck is going on?" he roars load enough for even Mr. White's human ears to hear him.

"Nate, tell our teacher, Mr. White, that you, as our guardian, give us permission to leave the field trip in order to seek medical care."

"What happened? Why – "

"Nate," I plead.

There's a seconds pause before he says, "Put him on."

Rosalie hands the phone over to Mr. White.

"This is Nathaniel Pierce. My sisters, Isabella and Jordan Pierce, have my permission to leave."

"Mr. Pierce, please try to understand this isn't how we do things –"

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Nathan growls out.

Mr. White visibly gulps and a ferry attendant picks that moment to walk over to us.

"Is there a problem?" she asks, her eyes flicking from Mr. White to Jordan in my arms.

I arch an eyebrow at Mr. White, willing him to give up.

He takes a second, but then his shoulders slump slightly and he tells her there's no problem in a defeated voice. He hands my phone back to Rosalie and I quickly make my way to a seat. I sit down and cradle Jordan in my lap, arranging her so her head is on my shoulder.

I'm not a religious woman, but I send up a prayer for this to be the quickest boat ride of my life.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Hi All!

Thank you so much for your patience with my getting this latest chapter out. I'm so sorry there was such a long wait after one of the biggest cliff hangers in the story! I recently had to make an unexpected and last minute move for my job, so my life has been really crazy these past few months.

I want to be completely honest and upfront with you. I unforuntately cannot committ to a set update schedule, but I'm going to do my best to never have a wait as long as this one for a new chapter. I hope you can understand and are willing to continue reading this story. You all mean so much to me.

One thing I can promise you is that I will finish this story and I am going to do my best to update as often as possible.

Thank you for your support!

All my love,

Reg Quinn


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: The Threat**

* * *

Edward's quick to take the seat on my right side and I have to fight the urge to glance at him out of the corner of my eye.

With my hand now free, Rosalie hands me back my phone as she sits down on my left.

"Thanks," I murmur as I place the phone back up to my ear.

"Now tell me _what the fuck_ is going on, Bella," Nathan growls out.

The panic and fear in his voice are palpable and I know that I have the be the strong one here. Being here and having to watch Jordan go through this and not knowing how to help her is one of the hardest things I've ever had to go through in my life. But I know _not_ being here, not being able to at least _try_ to help her, and having to find out about this over the phone, would be ten times worse.

I'm quick to tell Nathan everything that happened up until the part where Jordan feinted and has yet to wake up. I fight to keep my voice level and calm when all I want to do is scream and cry.

Nathan doesn't interrupt me once, but as soon as I'm finished telling him everything that's happened with Jordan, he urgently asks, "Where are you guys now?" By the background noises coming from the phone, I can tell he's already running towards us.

"We're still on the ferry. We should be off in about ten minutes. Then – " I falter, trying to figure out how to tell him about the Cullens, knowing this isn't going to go well. "Then we're going to a hotel where we'll meet up with Carlisle Cullen. He's –"

"Cullen?" Nathan interrupts with a growl. "What do you mean you're meeting up with Carlisle Cullen, Bella? Is this all one sick joke?"

"I ran into then Cullen's right when Jordan feinted. They've offered to help and Carlisle is the best person to help Jordan. Help _us_."

"That's too much of a coincidence, Bella! One of them must have done this. They have a gift or –"

"Nate, I _know_ them," I remind him gently. "None of them have a gift like this and I know they wouldn't do something like this."

"You also thought you knew they wouldn't ever leave you, Bella, and how the hell did that work out for you?" he yells, anger and frustration building up in his voice.

Edward lets out what sounds like a pained growl and looking down, I can see his hands clenched around his seat on either side of his legs are leaving dents in the metal.

I'm not going to lie, what Nathan said hurt, but I know he only said it because he's scared and he's trying to find some explanation for why this is happening to us.

"Nathan," I start calmly. "You're just going to have to trust me on this one. You know I'd never do _anything_ to put Jordan in danger. When I say Carlisle is the best person to help Jordan, it's because I believe it with every fiber of my being."

He doesn't respond at first and all I can hear is his deep breathing.

"Fine," he finally bites out. "But it doesn't mean I have to like it. Now put one of them on, Bella."

"Nathan," I plead, knowing that in no way would be a good idea.

"Bella, there is no way I can hang up this phone without at least speaking to one of them first and I know as soon as that ferry docks, you're going to be more concerned with helping Jordan than talking to me – not that I would want it any other way."

"I'll talk to him, Bella," Emmett tells me from Rosalie's other side with a gentle smile. "Really, it's no problem."

I reluctantly hand the phone to Emmett and wait for the bomb to explode.

"Hi Nathan, this is Emmett Cullen speak–"

"Now you listen here, _Emmett Cullen_ ," Nathan spits out and I can't decide if I should wince or roll my eyes. "If I get there and one hair on my girls' heads is harmed, _one fucking hair_ , I will hold you personally responsible and I will rip all four of your limbs off your body and make you watch me throw them in the fire before I rip off your head and then do the same to every member of your family. You hear me, Emmett Cullen?"

If this whole situation didn't make me feel physically ill, I would have laughed at the expression on Emmett's face, a mixture of surprise and awe.

"Look, man, I completely understand, but please know, we just want to help and we would _never_ hurt either of them. I mean, we see Bella as a member of this family –"

Nathan's cold laugh cuts Emmett off. "Well I guess you and I treat members of our family a _little_ differently, so I'm afraid that sentiment doesn't make me feel much better. Just remember what I said, Emmett Cullen, _one hair_ , and the entire Volturi army won't be able to protect you from me."

Thankfully Emmett realizes disagreeing with Nathan will get him absolutely nowhere at the moment. "Of course," Emmett agrees, "I read you loud and clear. I swear on my life they won't be harmed."

Nathan's apparently as pleased as he can be in this situation as he no longer threatens Emmett's life or limbs and instead demands Emmett tells him where we'll be meeting Carlisle. Emmett quickly gives him the hotel and their room information and then the phone is turned back over to me.

"I'll be there as soon as I can, Bells. Just – just take care of our girl, okay?"

"Always," I vow. "She's going to be okay, Nate," I promise him, even though I have no business handing out such promises, but I have to believe it.

"I know," he murmurs. "She _has_ to be okay. I love you guys."

I look down at Jordan and brush a stray piece of hair that has fallen out of her ponytail away from her face. "We love you too," I tell him and then the line goes dead, just as the sound of ripping metal fills the air. I look over and see that the part of Edward's seat that he was previously only denting has now been completely wrenched from his seat.

"Edward!" Jasper hisses.

What the hell is his problem? I mean, this situation isn't easy on any of us, and excuse me, but I'm pretty sure it's a million times worse for me than it could be for any of them and you don't see me drawing attention to us by destroying the seat.

He sighs harshly and leans forward, dropping his elbows to his knees before gripping his hair tightly in his hands. "Sorry," he groans out.

I glare at the back of his head before looking over at Emmett. "About Nate," I start. "I hope you can appreciate the stress he's under at the moment. He's not normally like that," I explain, not exactly wanting to apologize, but still feeling a little awkward about how that went down and some of the things Nate said.

"Don't worry about it, Bells." His voice is kind, but it stings a little to hear him use that nickname like no time has passed. "He's protective of you and Jordan, and . . . I can understand why we wouldn't be his favorite people."

I don't know what to say so I just nod.

"Bella, if you don't mind me asking, you said earlier Nathan was your brother?" Rosalie asks.

Edward's head quickly leaves his hands and his eye zero in on me, but I refuse to look over at him.

"Yes," I answer, "he's my brother and Jordan's father."

Rosalie pauses for a second before asking, "You mean like Carlisle is our father? Or her biological father?"

"Her biological father."

"Oh wow," she murmurs, pity in her voice. "I can't imagine what that must have been like for him, having to watch his daughter go through the change, knowing there was nothing he could do to help."

"That's not exactly what happened. It's . . . a long story. I'm sure I'll have to explain it all to Carlisle later."

Rosalie–bless her–drops it, sensing that I don't want to talk about it, and we spend the rest of the ferry ride in silence.

As the ferry docks, we make sure we are the first people to get off. We fight our way through the crowds and over to the car. A few times when needed, Emmett literally picked people up and gently moved them out of our way, apologizing and claiming we had a medical emergency, which I suppose wasn't inaccurate.

When we get to the car, Emmett jumps in the driver's seat as I fold into the passenger, with Jordan in my lap. Within seconds the car is started and we are pulling out. "The hotel is only a couple of miles away and Carlisle should probably be there already. He and Esme were closer to the hotel than we were."

"He's there," Alice confirms from the back, no doubt having already had a vision about what time Carlisle would arrive.

"Good," Emmett says. "I can have us there in less than 20 minutes."

"Make is 10," Rosalie tells him and I don't think I've ever been more grateful to another person in my life.

"Yes, Ma'am," Emmett chuckles gently before flooring the gas and swerving around a truck.

To say Emmett drove like a madman would be an understatement. If I wasn't nearly indestructible I would have feared for my life.

Never being one to disappoint Rosalie, Emmett screeches the car to a halt in front of the hotel less than 10 minutes later.

Of course, being the Cullens, the emergency hotel room they booked that they weren't even positive they would use wasn't at some cheap hotel, but at a super fancy place with a bellhop waiting by the door to take our bags. As we jump out of the car he comes hurrying over.

"Cullen, room 224," Emmett tells him pushing the keys and a wad of cash into his hands. "Please have our car parked."

The bellhop looks confused, but we hurry past and a few seconds later I hear him mutter underneath his breath, "I'll be your valet any day for this kind of tip."

We rush into the lobby and Jasper leads up towards the door to the stairs that are thankfully empty, most people opting to use the elevator.

I run up at full speed and throw open the door to the second floor, scaring the hell out of a couple that had just passed the door. I pay them no mind and find the number on the closest room. 202 and the room to the left of it is 200. To the right it is then.

As I quickly make my way down the hallway, I hear Jasper apologizing to the couple and explaining how Jordan passed out from dehydration so we are taking her to the room for some rest and fluids. I'm sure he even used his gift to calm the couple down, but I can't be sure since I have my shield down.

I finally find room 224 and since my hands are supporting Jordan, Rosalie, who was only a step behind me, raises her hand to knock on the door.

Less than a second later Esme rips open the door, her face a confusing mix of both worry and elation. "Oh, Bella, it really is you, sweetheart," she weeps, but I only have eyes for Carlisle who is standing right behind her, his face a mirror of hers.

"Carlisle," I beg. " _Please._ Help her. I'll do anything."


End file.
